High School Crushes are for Wimps
by Shin Sankai
Summary: ON HIATUS. Ice Queen Misao Makimachi doesn't have any friends. A new student comes to school, an 18 year old Aoshi Shinomori. Secrets are discovered. Just how can these to relate?
1. Chapter I

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High School Crushes are for Wimps

Fastening her bag around her right shoulder once again, a dark haired girl trudged up the steps leading inside to the corridor of her high school. She calmly moved down the corridor narrowly missing other running students, a scowl crossing her face as one of the other students bumped into her petite frame. Her narrowed look seemed to make the younger student cower slightly and he backed away and quickly walked off in another direction. 

She made her way deftly to her locker and smacked her fist into the metal, which jarred the bent locker open. She didn't care for the chit chatter that occurred around her as female students hugged there friends having not seen them in ages. All that mattered to her was the fact that she had one more school year left and then she could get out of this city and far away from her fellow students that annoyed her to no end. Her head lifted up when she heard the bell indicating the beginning of the new school year had begun. She sighed and slammed her locker shut and made her way down the corridor and towards the stairs. Her classroom was always upstairs but that was one thing she didn't mind. Her eyes noticed a grade 10 student at the top the stairs picking up scattered papers and books. She had obviously been knocked over and the hold she would have had on her books had been lost. Blue eyes narrowed as other students walked passed the girl, completely ignoring the fact that she needed some help or else she would be in big trouble by her teacher. Her polished black shoes stopped next to a piece of paper and she bent down picking it up and a few others nearby and handed them wordlessly back to the 10th grader.

"A-Arigatoo…" She voiced softly but watched as the unknown senior walked on not even acknowledging her word of thanks.

* * * * 

The grade 11 student sighed as she stood outside her classroom door. She took a deep breath, slid it across and stepped into the room with great ease. She made her way to her usual sitting position, up the back in the corner and next to the windows. Her fellow students chattered happily, girls giggling insanely as they glanced there innocent eyes over at the boys group…two of them were having an arm wrestle with a few of their mates betting on who would win this round. As soon as the teacher walked in, students scattered to their respected seats and sat silently waiting for the role to be called. 

"Ah, I see that I still have so many familiar faces which means you all passed your exams from last year which is wonderful to see." The teacher continued on about how wonderful it was that he'd have so many familiar faces in his classroom once again. The lone girl propped her head in her arms and gazed out the window and down at the basketball court where leaves swirled around from the morning breeze. Every morning always started like this with her wacko teacher. He'd go on some huge spill, which had absolutely nothing to do with education, and lasted for about ten minutes…twenty tops. At least this was the one time she was never alone in that fact she just felt like falling asleep as he drawled on with his speech. All the male students in her class sat back in their chairs, some resting their heads on their desks and closed their eyes as they were temporarily placed in a semi asleep phase thanks to their teacher's voice. The girls on the other hand did no such thing; they all seemed to have developed a crush for the redhead.

"Makimachi Misao?" The lone girl stood up having been knocked out of her silent thoughts by her teacher's voice growing powerful to grab her attention.

"Hai?" She answered in a dry voice, her blue eyes moving to violet ones that belonged to her sensei. She blinked numerous times noticing a new student stood to his side, one hand in his school uniform trouser pocket while the other held a strap of his navy blue backpack. 

"I'm glad to see you finally joined us this morning." Her sensei spoke and some of the girls snickered lightly at that. The expressionless look that was plastered on Misao's face remained and she watched her teacher sigh lightly while he placed out his hand and introduced the new student to her since she didn't hear him the first time.

"You have a new classmate Makimachi. His name is Shinomori Aoshi and I have volunteered your services to show him to administration and to help him locate his locker since you decided not to participate in listening to a word I have spoken this morning." Her teacher spoke again and all eyes watched Misao as she left her desk, not bothering to tuck in her chair and wordlessly headed out of the classroom with the 'newcomer' following her silently.

"Ne Himura-sensei he looks too old to be in our grade." One girl spoke as she raised her hand in doing so. Numerous other students agreed as well, but the newcomer wasn't phased and instead slid the door closed silently behind him.

* * * * 

Misao walked down the corridor of the ground floor, the quiet newcomer walked beside her as he followed her lead. She had eyed him a couple of times, only watching as he gazed his hidden eyes elsewhere. She had been waiting for the chit chatter to come, the introductions, the 'lets be friends' remark like so many other students she had shown to the administration office, but it never came. It was her sensei's entire fault for sure. He seemed determined as hell to see her make one friend before she left high school. Misao stopped at the closed door; a sign indicating 'administration' was pretty evident that they were in the right place.

"I can do this myself, I don't need your guidance any longer." Aoshi spoke, his eyes never moving to Misao's as he opened the door to head inside. All Misao did in reply was shrug her shoulders and turn to leave.

Surprisingly enough she never did head back to class and instead sat down on a bench just across from the administration office, one ankle crossed over the other. Who was she to complain about getting out of homeroom anyway? Misao began to bite her nails in sheer boredom as she waited…and waited.

"Come on!" She voiced aloud in irritation and glanced her eyes up when she heard the door creak open. She stood up, her arms crossed over her chest as she waited for this 'Shinomori Aoshi' to emerge.

"We normally don't take mature aged students into our classrooms, but in your case we have made an exception. Be sure to take extra tutoring if needs be, it has been two years after all." A woman dressed in a grey skirt, white blouse and a matching grey jacket spoke. Misao arched an eyebrow catching what she spoke but didn't know what she meant, nor was it any of her business to begin with so she demonised all thoughts. 

"Arigatoo…" Misao heard her new classmate mutter as he bowed to the principal and waited for her to close the door before standing upright.

"I said I didn't need your help." Aoshi voiced even though he was still facing the closed door, but finally looked over his shoulder at Misao. She in turn had shrugged her shoulders once more, turned to her right facing down the corridor and voiced her reply and began walking off.

"Do I look like I give a crap? I get out of homeroom…oh and your locker is this way." Aoshi walked a metre or two behind Misao, his eyes hidden by his long bangs but in a flicker of movement they held silent curiousness for the schoolgirl in front of him. She was extremely cold…probably scaring more than half the school population away because of her icy exterior. This got Aoshi intrigued as to why the hell she was the way she was. He finally stopped when she did, still a metre or two behind her and watched as she pointed to a vacant locker.

"I'm sure you can remember the way back to classroom." Misao spoke again and walked off, her shoes making no clanking sounds like the other students created when they walked down the hallway. She had a long braid that swung behind her as she walked in confident, but silent strides. 

Aoshi watched as she stopped when a clumsy 10th grader tripped over her own feet and fell to the ground with a loud thud. His amazement grew as Misao stopped to help the girl pick up her papers and then she stood up ignoring the thanks she received and turned the corner heading back upstairs. Aoshi shook his head when he heard the bell go and placed his books in his locker and only carried the ones he needed for the first three lessons of he day. He hurried towards the stairs, as tardiness on your first day back at your old school was probably not a good thing.

* * * * 

To be continued…

* * * *

Authors Notes: Minna-san I started yet another freaking story! Damn this brain of mine! Oh well…I thought this up just about an hour ago…so I thought what the hell and began typing away. 

So far only three characters have been mentioned from the series:

Makimachi Misao - Icy schoolgirl 

Shinomori Aoshi - Newcomer mature aged student

Himura Kenshin - Their concerned sensei.

Oh, the girl that keeps falling over and always in the vicinity of Misao is actually going to be Tsubame. Oh does anyone know what her last name is? Is it even mentioned in the series? 

One last question to: Is it sempai for a senior student? Since Misao is in a grade higher then Tsubame would she get to be called Misao-sempai or Makimachi-sempai? Or does that not apply to girls? 

*Scratches her head in confusion*

Anywho I'm sure the others might make appearances…but I'm not sure yet…Ja ne!


	2. Chapter II

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High School Crushes are for Wimps

Aoshi leaned up from his desk as he had been slightly hunched over scribbling down the notes Himura-sensei had written on the board. He had a pen stuck between his lips and one behind his ear as he quickly read over his notes to make sure he got everything down. Finally he yawned, a soft clunk coming from the pen as it dropped to his desk. Who would have thought that high school was still this boring?

His hidden eyes scanned the class noticing ever student was writing down the notes, a couple of girls passing each other letters here and there but still occasionally writing. That's when Aoshi turned to his left to gaze over at Misao. There was only two seats left in the classroom and that was either beside her or in front of her. It seemed no student wanted to be in close range of one Makimachi Misao. Aoshi opted to sit beside her for unknown reasons, but now his attention was on her as she gazed out the window not even scribbling down any notes like her fellow classmates. 

"Shinomori is there some sort of problem you are having with Makimachi?" Himura spoke as he noticed the mature teenager looking at her a few times. He watched as some of his male students turned to look back at Aoshi as did most of the girls, but his expression was calm as he replied with a straight answer of,

"No…"

"Then I suggest you keep writing down your notes." Himura commented in his soft but firm voice.

"I've already finished writing them down."

"Oro, I mean perhaps it is wise for you to read over them to see if there is anything you don't understand." Himura corrected himself as he stood to the side of the classroom so he wasn't in the way of the board.

"I completed this topic a couple of years ago and it has not changed since then, so I am comfortable with what I know sensei." Aoshi replied in his deadpan voice and glanced to his right noticing a few girls whisper amongst themselves about his 'a couple of years ago' remark. 

"All right then, as long as you are comfortable." Kenshin responded and sat back in a chair and continued to read his book while the rest of his students continued to write down his notes from the board.

The classroom was dead quiet as Aoshi sat boredly in his chair pondering over why in seven hells he decided to go back to school. His mind brought up an image of two smiling girls and his mouth twitched lightly as though wanting to break into a smile…but he didn't. Finally Aoshi leaned forward, his tall frame crippling over the desk as he placed his forehead on the table, creating a small amount of noise, but no one seemed to have noticed…and if they did, he didn't care.

One person however, was actually paying attention to him. Misao was quick at taking notes and always finished before the others and then proceeded to gaze out the window as though daydreaming about being in a better place. Her sensei knew she took quick accurate notes and although she held an icy exterior sometimes laced with pure laziness Misao was actually one of the top students in the school. It had surprised her that someone else had taken notes nearly as quick as she had and so she turned to glance at her classmate sitting beside her and wondered what his spaced out look was for. She watched as his usual scowl broke slightly, the twitching of his lips occurring and then he smacked his head on his desk as though breaking out of his thoughts…or snapping back into his scowl she really couldn't decide. Misao had thought all of her classmates were weird, but Shinomori Aoshi…had just one first prize in being the strangest student she had come across.

It was uncanny that he could be cold, like he was to her earlier on and then the twitching of his lips seemed to give away that his scowl was all some sort of act. Just what was up with this Shinomori Aoshi anyway?

"Makimachi do _you_ have a problem with Shinomori now?" Their teacher spoke and then the snickering began. Misao gazed her eyes over at Aoshi, who was not paying any attention and then they found her teachers as she parted her lips ready to voice no, but instead she though otherwise.

"Actually yes, why has he not been treated like we were when we first got to this high school?" 

"How do you mean?" Himura questioned his student and watched as she rolled her eyes and replied back, her hand moving as though gesturing to Aoshi and then to the entire class.

"When we were newcomers like him we had to talk about ourselves and yet all that has been stated about him is the fact that his name is Shinomori Aoshi." Aoshi sat up having heard his name twice and turned to look at Misao for a moment and then sat straight looking at the back of the male student sitting in front of him.

"Are you saying you wish to get to know Shinomori better?" Kenshin voiced aloud and watched as his students blue eyes narrowed at his question and then she answered for everyone.

"No…but I'm the only one who would actually have the guts to openly ask you to make him stand up in front of the class and talk about himself like we had to in the 10th grade." Before Kenshin could even reply to Misao's remark he heard the scrapping of a chair and watched as Aoshi moved to the front of the classroom and leaned against his desk, his arms folded over his chest.

"What do you want to know?" He spoke dryly and the classroom went dead. He could hear some murmuring, but still no one voiced what had been rolling around in his or her minds. Kenshin could feel the tension rise and cleared his throat as he decided to ask the first question.

"Shinomori were you born in Kyoto?" His student turned to look at him and answered in one word,

"Yes…"

"How old are you?" Kenshin's question seemed to break the ice as one of his female students asked Aoshi her own question. 

"18…" Aoshi replied in sheer boredom and then the murmurs began.

"Why are you in our grade? Shouldn't you have finished school by now?" A boy with spiky brown hair questioned, his pen sticking out of his mouth in doing so. Aoshi watched as a dark haired girl leaned over and smacked him over the head.

"Baka that is not your business!" She sneered at him and then flicked her hair sitting up straight once more.

"I was here a couple of years ago, but left to take care of some personal problems, which is not your business. Is that all? Shouldn't you get back to teaching Himura-sensei?"

"Quite right." Himura spoke while standing up and waved Aoshi to sit back down. He did so and turned to look at Misao, but she was again staring out the window. 

* * * *

Lunchtime had come around quickly and Aoshi headed out into the courtyard and noticed the spiky haired male student in his class was waving him over. Aoshi fastened his bag over his shoulder and trudged over to his fellow classmate.

"Sorry about the remark in class Shinomori-kun, the names Sagara Sanosuke, but you can call me Sano." He spoke while placing his hand out and shaking Aoshi's. Aoshi did nothing but eye him silently and then observed as the dark haired girl that had smacked him earlier was now standing beside him, a warm smile on her ruby lips.

"Takani Megumi, since this tori atama has no sense in manners and decided not to introduce me." She replied while placing her hand over her mouth and began laughing as Sano fumed beside her.

"Yeah…well…you're just a sly fox! HA!" He snickered back, which now got Megumi into fuming mode.

"Do not worry about those two Shinomori-kun they usually forgive each other in about ten minutes." Aoshi turned to look down at a short boy who wasn't in his class.

"Oh, forgive my bad manners, I am Seta Soujiro but am actually in the other grade 11 class." Aoshi nodded his head in recognition and stood beside his newfound friends', as they seemed to be waiting for other people. Aoshi was soon introduced to a Yukishiro Tomoe and Enishi and a girl who just went by the name Yume as they too were in Soujiro's class. Since the so-called 'group' had now been formed, Aoshi silently followed the six students as they made there way towards a large tree and sat underneath it getting out of the warm afternoon sun. 

"So how are you finding the school Shinomori-kun? Are you finding your way around easily?" Yume questioned as she bit into her sandwich and waited for his reply. Aoshi was shuffling through his bag, not really wanting to answer questions but knew it was pointless to avoid.

"I've been here before, so I pretty much know my way around. This place hasn't changed much, but the teachers have changed though. Himura-sensei is pretty strange."

"See kitsune, I knew I wasn't the only one that thought our teacher was a wacko!" Sano blurted out and received a smack over the head yet again.

"He isn't a wacko roosterhead. How can you judge him when you don't even bother to talk to him?" Megumi spoke and received affirmative nods from Yume and Tomoe.

"Well excuse me for not finding him a total dreamboat!" Sano replied sarcastically, which got a laugh/cough from Enishi and Soujiro as they received glares from their female friends.

"You're being ridiculous Sano-kun." Tomoe spoke in a soft voice, but she watched as Sano sat up on his news, his hands clasped together at his heart and in a squeaky voice, trying to imitate the girls in his grade he began to speak.

"Oh Himura-sensei is so dreamy. Look at his long flowing red hair, I want to touch it! Oh and what about his violet eyes too, so gentle and yet mysterious. It's such a shame he has to be our teacher. I so wish I was older and out of school so I could date him…or wouldn't it be cool if he was a student in our grade!"

"Ah, Sano?" Aoshi tried interrupting but Sano waved him off as he voiced his opinions about their teacher once more. 

"Trust me kitsune that all that is said about the freaky guy. You can see the hearts in every schoolgirl's eyes when he glances their way. He's so feminine looking its bloody scary!"

"Good afternoon students, how are you enjoying your lunch break?" A voice broke into Sano's comments and his face fell as he sat back on his heels and turned his head to look into violet eyes.

"Err, it's a lovely warm day today Himura-sensei so we thought it would be nice to have lunch in the courtyard. What about yourself?" Megumi spoke and gave off a nervous laugh.

"Aa, it is a beautiful day is it not? I have already eaten my lunch and am on yard duty for the moment so I best keep going. Don't be late in heading back to class when the bell rings." 

"Hai sensei!" The girls voiced together and watched as their short teacher headed off, their eyes frowning as Tomoe voiced their thoughts allowed.

"The poor man, I wonder if what Sano-kun said hurt his feelings. You can be such an idiot at times Sano-kun." 

"What do you mean at times? He's a baka every single second!" Megumi spoke and smacked Sano on the head before getting up and jogging after her teacher. Yume and Tomoe weren't too far behind either.

"Why didn't you guys agree with me huh?" Sano narrowed his chocolate brown eyes at his supposed mates but listened to his Aoshi's answer.

"Well, I think there is something strange about him, but I wasn't one to agree with you since I saw him coming our way." Enishi and Soujiro nodded in unison at Aoshi's remark.

"And why wasn't I told about him approaching?" 

"I tried, but you kept on with your rant anyway." Aoshi was instant in his reply and brought out his water bottle taking a drink. Sano fumed to himself and began eating his sandwich in a not so pleasant way as he took vigorous bites of the poor scrunched up bread. 

There was an air of silence floating around the four students, but Enishi and Soujiro chatting occasionally interrupted it. Aoshi wasn't really one for chatting much and instead could sit silently and just listen to the others do all the talking. A breeze swept through the yard and the bouncing of a ball soon got Aoshi's attention as he turned his head to gaze at the lone figure playing on the basketball court.

"So what's her story?" Aoshi questioned and received confused gazes from the other three guys. He jerked his head in the direction of the basketball court and watched as Sano waved his arms around.

"That is one scary chick you don't wanna mess with Shinomori-kun. You even think about talking to her you're likely to get burned."

"Or frozen…" Enishi added in.

"She's just…different that's all." Soujiro spoke up, a small smile making its way to his lips. Aoshi turned to look at him, but not before noticing the rolling eyes of Enishi and Sano.

"There are many rumours about Makimachi and whether you believe them or not is up to you. I don't really know any myself, but I used to be in junior high with her. She's been this way ever since I can remember, but maybe she just hasn't figured out who she really is on the inside…and so perhaps she portrays herself as cold and aloof until she knows what her true identity really is." Aoshi raised an eyebrow at Soujiro's explanation and turned back to look at Misao, watching as she threw the basketball towards the hoop but it ended up rebounding and rolling away from her.

"True identity huh?" Aoshi muttered to himself, not noticing the strange looks he was receiving from his new friends and went back to eating while his eyes watched Misao's every move.

* * * * 

To be continued…

* * * *


	3. Chapter III

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High School Crushes are for Wimps

Misao bounced the ball for the umpteenth time as she poised herself to shoot from the three-pointer line on the court. Her blue eyes narrowed as she aimed the basketball for the square on the board so it might rebound and drop through the actual hoop.

"Have you ever thought of trying out for the girls basketball team Makimachi?" Misao turned to hear her sensei's voice, made a face and then proceeded to throw the ball at the board. A flicker of victory flashed in her eyes as it finally went through the hoop.

"Why would I do something like that? I'm not Miss Social Butterfly you know." Her voice was dry, almost edged with anger as her teacher was interrupting her private time to herself. She glanced behind him to watch three other girls in her grade run up to him yelling his name.

"I hope Sanosuke's words didn't upset you sensei, he's just a complete idiot at heart so he cannot help but voice his opinions without thinking first." Kenshin chuckled lightly trying to wave off the girls concern for him, but a voice edged with venom broke in first.

"You know how you keep asking me why I don't associate with others Himura-sensei, well now you have your answer right in front of you. Its people like them that are so picky that they can't even take the bad aspects about their friends with the good…and I hate people like that." Misao walked off after voicing that and moved down to the other end of the court to shoot some hoops. 

"She's so strange…" Yume muttered to Tomoe and Megumi, but her eyes grew wide when Kenshin responded, he having heard her whisper clearly.

"She is merely strange because she is different from you…that is all." He walked off after that as he headed back inside the building and towards the teacher's lounge. He stood at the door turning around to look back at Misao and his eyes frowned in sadness. He had tried helping her open up so many times…even if it was just to him, but it always fell short of its mark. She had always come back with snide remarks about how teachers should just educate and mind their own damn business. It was that answer all the time…and although Kenshin gave up on the asking front, he still looked out for the teenager. Misao was very bright…brighter then most of her fellow students thought anyway. Not many knew, but Misao was merely 15 and in grade 11. She wasn't 16 until the middle of the year. She had passed junior high with flying colours, missing out on grade 9 and went straight into grade 10 at this high school. According to Misao's grades in the computer she could be finishing grade 12 right about now but somewhere inside her she just wanted to get through school like everyone else.

Kenshin had known and looked out for Misao ever since she was a little girl. Her parents were dead and her adoptive grandfather who lived in Osaka never came to see her. Misao was…and always seemed to be alone. She wouldn't have recalled the times she had stayed under his care when she was four years old, but Kenshin remembered them as though they had been yesterday. Around that age was when her attitude had begun to change. Kenshin shook his head and stepped inside. His faith in himself at trying to reach the ever-icy Makimachi Misao was slowly decreasing. 

It was funny that Misao never seemed to think as to why she got to stay in a small unit by herself…or the fact that her all her bills, plus her tuition for school were actually never sent to her. In fact Kenshin had practically become her guardian without her even knowing it. All she knew was that her adoptive grandfather was taking care of her bills when it was Kenshin's doing all along. He had his reasons after all…

* * * * 

"Hey Shinomori-kun, where you going?" Sano spoke as he watched Aoshi silently get up just as Megumi, Yume and Tomoe came back to spend the small amount of lunch left with the guys. 

"For a walk…" Aoshi responded and headed off towards the basketball courts.

"Hey wait!" Sano spoke while sitting up properly, his hand out as though wanting to stop Aoshi from meeting his death with Misao.

"Let him go Sano-kun, he'll find out just how icy the ice queen can be." Enishi retorted back and stole the biscuit his sister had in her hand at that moment. Her dark eyes had narrowed at him, but she never voiced any anger towards him and instead took out another one and shoved it into her mouth before he could steal it.

* * * *

Aoshi stood at the sideline of the court, his eyes following Misao's footsteps as she moved around this half of the court while her left hand held half her sandwich. He observed as she threw the basketball at the hoop and it rebounded off and headed in Aoshi's direction, his hand coming out of his pocket as he caught the ball silently.

"What do you want?" Misao spoke as she finally noticed someone was watching her. Everytime she was alone she usually got so engrossed in whatever she was doing that she'd forget about everything else.

"Watching you shoot hoops." Aoshi replied and all he got was a death glare from Misao, which would have scared any other student out of their wits, but not him. 

"And what would _you_ know of basketball?" Misao retorted back as she finished the last bite of her sandwich off and then placed her hands on her hips. Her eyes grew slightly wide as Aoshi bounced the ball once and then shot it at the hoop, it falling straight through without even hitting the board or the ring for that matter.

"A lot more then you it seems. I used to play a fair bit when I was in junior high. Oh, a couple of tips to remember when playing, is not to play in constricting clothing like school uniforms. Always remember to wear sneakers and start shooting hoops up close and move back to the three-pointer line gradually when you get confident enough that you can actually shoot from there. Ja ne…" Aoshi waved over his shoulder at Misao, she not moving to grab the ball and instead kept gazing at his retreating form. Her eyes narrowed threateningly and her hands fisted. No one ever told her what to do!

* * * *

(Physical Education Lesson)

The girls were sitting on the lawn, dressed in their sports gear and listening to what they would be playing today. It was softball, which got many girls sighing in relief since it wasn't too much high powered running and some whining as it was too warm to be playing sport since they'd get all sweaty. Misao sat off on her own, the blue baruma she wore wasn't protecting her butt from the itchy grass very well and so she stood up, hands crossed over her grey tank top shirt. She waited for their PE Teacher to name who was on what team and then waited to see if the side she was on would bat or field first. They were fielding. 

"Ma-Makimachi you can be pitcher." A girl spoke while chucking her the ball and racing off to right outfield. Misao glanced down at the softball then headed into the middle to do the pitching. Her face was blank, but you couldn't say that for the batter. She was literally shaking at being in the target range of the Ice Queen!

"Oh this'll be interesting." Sano spoke from the soccer field noticing just who the pitcher was in the girls' team. Enishi, Soujiro and Aoshi turned to where Sano was pointing and noticed the long braid instantly.

"Can you see the batter literally shaking in fear? We told you not to provoke her Shinomori-kun, what did you say anyway?" Sano voiced once more as he watched Misao let rip her first throw and observed as the girl batting screamed and fell on her backside in the dirt.

"Nothing…I don't think…" Aoshi voiced as he tied up his shoelaces on his sneakers. He wore the blue school shorts and a baggy grey top, which matched the girls even though they were in skimpy baruma and grey tank tops. The guys observed Aoshi as he seemed deep in thought trying to think what he could have said that would have upset the 'ice queen' as she was so faithfully called by every student.

"Maybe…" He voiced quietly and then took off in a run heading for the softball field. 

"Shinomori you get back here!" His gym teacher yelled but he paid no attention. It just had to be his little talk about how she stunk at basketball during lunch. Sure he didn't actually voice she stunk, but the 'ice queen' being the way she was would have read it that way indeed. He had to figure out a way to calm her down lest she take the poor girls head off with the ball.

"Shinomori what do you think your doing over here?" The female teacher spoke with her hands on her hips but watched as he made his way to the batter, his hand placed on the bat stopping her shaking hands from lifting it to balance near her right shoulder.

"You shouldn't play if you are scared." Aoshi spoke and was about to stand up to his fall height and voice to Misao that enough was enough, but it was all a little too late. She had already turned around to face the batter and pitched the ball at high speed, not noticing that someone, namely Aoshi was in the way.

"SHINOMORI-KUN LOOK OUT!" The girl on first base yelled and Aoshi had no time as the ball came flying towards his face.

* * * * 

"Shinomori-kun, are you alright?" Aoshi opened his eyes to notice both gym teachers were looking down at him, as were a few of the girls. The one that had been the batter moved closer and held out a few fingers in front of his face. 

"How many fingers do you see Shinomori-kun?" She voiced softly and watched as he shoved her hand away while mumbling three and sat up.

"Sagara, you help Shinomori to the nurse's office at once and Makimachi I want you to run ahead and tell her to get a cloth and an icepack ready for Shinomori's arrival." Aoshi turned to look at Misao to see she was staring down at the softball she was holding…a smear of his blood staining the off-white coloured ball.

"MAKIMACHI MOVE IT!" The male gym teacher voiced louder which got Misao into running mode as she dropped the ball silently to the ground. Aoshi and Sano were following at a much slower pace.

"Shit Shinomori-kun that must of hurt! Your gunna have one huge bloody bruise that's for sure!"

"No, it's perfectly fine, that's why my head feels like its ready to explode. It will be a black eye Sano, not a simple bruise by the way." Aoshi retorted back, which got a chuckle from Sano at his sarcastic remark and correction of his statement.

* * * *

The rest of the PE Lesson flew by as Aoshi took up the two-seater couch in the nurse's office. His head was resting back on a cushion and his feet propped up on the couch, with his knees bent in the air. His sneakers were next to his backpack on the floor near the couch. Aoshi's eyes were closed his right one actually covered with an icepack. His linked hands rested on his stomach moving up and down with his quiet even breaths. 

"How are you feeling now Shinomori?" Nurse Okon spoke and Aoshi opened his left eye to look up at her hazily.

"I think I'm okay, but my head is still throbbing." He spoke truthfully and she granted him the next period off and gave him some pain relief tablets to take right away. 

"You'll have a nasty black eye for the rest of the week I would imagine, but the small cut you received near your right eye will heal in a day or two. Rest here for the afternoon and I'll send word to your teacher that you won't be at your last lesson for the day. Who is your teacher by the way?" Nurse Okon spoke and Aoshi turned on his left side, without the icepack falling from his right eye and answered before closing his eye once again.

"Himura-sensei…"

* * * * 

Aoshi jolted from his small sleep when he heard the office door close and he sat up, the ice pack warm as it had done all it could for his puffy and now black eye. Aoshi watched Nurse Okon come out of her private office and into the waiting room where he had fallen asleep on the couch.

"Oh you are awake, you must have just missed Makimachi." She spoke as she looked at the door.

"Makimachi was here?" Aoshi replied while placing his fingers near his eye to test out how tender his skin was. 

"School has finished Shinomori so you may go home now. I suggest you find Himura-sensei to see what work you have to do and then go home, rest up and take these twice a day. I suggest about an hour before you go to bed and an hour before you come to school. That way during the school hours and your sleeping hours the pain should be minimal." Aoshi nodded at her instructions and placed the tablets into his bag. He zipped it up, placed his sneakers back on and finally stood up while handing the warm icepack back to her.

"Arigatoo Nurse Okon." Aoshi bowed slightly, his face wincing when he tried opening his right eye fully, but decided it was best not to force it to open properly. 

"Oh Shinomori, I was told to give this to you when you woke up. I think Makimachi is a little too shy to give it to you herself." Aoshi took the small folded slip of paper from Okon's fingers and exited the nurse's office. He flipped it open to read only one word: 

Gomen_…_

So there was a guilty/soft side to the ice queen after all…and by some sheer luck…not to mention a black eye as witness to his victory, Aoshi had gotten through apart of the thick ice protecting Makimachi Misao from everyone. 

* * * *

To be continued…

* * * *


	4. Chapter IV

****

High School Cruches are for Wimps

Aoshi had tried finding Misao that afternoon, but had not found any trace that would have suggested she was still at school. His mind soon came up with the idea of an 'ice queen' like her probably wouldn't stay after school to do activities like many other students did.

"Shinomori?" Aoshi turned when he heard his name being called and noticed it was Himura-sensei walking up to him. He held a small smile noticing he seemed to be up and walking around which was a good thing.

"I received word from Nurse Okon about what happened, it wasn't intentional I hope." He spoke sternly hoping that Misao didn't do it on purpose and he relaxed when Aoshi shook his head and explained his reason.

"Its not so bad, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time Himura-sensei." Kenshin wasn't too sure of that but soon produced a blue folder, which contained the notes of the last lesson in it.

"Takani created the spare notes for you so do read over them tonight and answer the questions on page 24 in your text book okay?" Aoshi nodded his head affirmatively and then watched as his teacher waved goodbye to him and headed back down the hallway. 

Aoshi reached his locker, placing in the books he needed for his homework and then proceeded down the steps of the main entrance and out of the yard to head for the bus stop. His eyes grew wide when he noticed his bus pulling away from the curb.

"Shit!" Aoshi cursed aloud and read the timetable to see when the next one would be coming: 20 minutes.

* * * *

Aoshi had shielded most of his face by his long bangs as he rode the bus home. He wore a pair of black sunglasses as well just in case. Once the bus came to a stop at his street he got off and headed towards his house, which was just a block away from the actual bus stop. He looked at his watch noting it was 5pm and cursed himself at being so late. He picked up his pace going into a run and opened the side gate since the block next to them was a park and closed it silently behind him. His eyes made out a beige coloured car and he cringed as his father was home. He opened the front door, slipped off his sneakers and placed them to the side. His bag was placed on a hook for the moment and he entered the lounge where his father stood impatiently waiting for him

"Ta-Tadaima…" Aoshi muttered while bowing at his father.

"It's passed 4:30, where have you been?" Aoshi's father voiced in displeasure, his arms folded across his chest.

"There was an accident during PE today and I had to stay in the nurse's office for the remainder of the school day. She did not wake me and so I missed the first bus, I'm sorry Sir, it won't happen again." Aoshi voiced while bowing lightly and then stood up.

"I don't give a shit for your excuses! You come home when I tell you to come home got it? I have an important meeting to attend to and your slackness pisses me right off boy!" Aoshi cringed lightly, his teeth gritting together when he received a punch to his abdomen, the wind being knocked out of him and sending him to his knees gasping for air. The glasses he had been earing had fallen off, his fathers boot stepping on them and crashing them to smithereens.

"GET UP BOY! DON'T YOU DARE BLACK OUT OVER THAT YOU POOR EXCUSE FOR A MAN!" Aoshi stood up, his right hand clutching his stomach and he waited for it, knowing exactly what was coming next…and this one would hurt more then any of the others he had ever received in his life. The smack to the face…on the exact spot he had been hit by the softball. 

* * * *

Aoshi was doubled over on the carpet in the lounge room. There was silence in the entire household, his father obviously having left for his meeting. His meeting was with no one except himself and his old mate sake. Aoshi finally opened his eyes, not even noticing he had closed them in the beginning or the fact that he didn't even remember hitting the floor either. He slowly got to his feet and headed for the bathroom. Aoshi flicked the light switch on and noticed the blood trail on the side of his face. His cut had been opened…and the right side of his face was now swollen from being smacked again.

Aoshi placed his hand at his stomach trying to massage the pain away but ended up running towards the toilet and began coughing up some blood. He rested his head against the bowl; his eyes tightly closed willing away the hurt that wished to break free. He flushed the toilet, washed out his mouth, cleaned his face and headed upstairs towards his room. He would not have pity on himself! Once he finally got his high school certificate and a good job he'd get the hell out of this city, support himself and his two orphaned sisters and take them far away from their abusive father. Two years of this he could handle if it meant he would have the rest of his life without his father after he graduated from high school…at least that is what Aoshi kept telling himself.

He closed his bedroom door and locked it like he did every night. His father sober scared the shit out of him, but his father drunk made Aoshi want to curl into a tight ball and just die right then and there before he could ever lay a finger on him. A chair was placed against the knob and not to forget the desk that was in the room was placed against the door as well. His father usually went on a rampage in the house and this seemed to be the only room he could never get into at two in the morning.

Aoshi's finger brushed over the photo that was hidden in the top draw of his desk. He finally flicked off the light and collapsed onto the single bed.

* * * * 

Aoshi startled from his sleep when he heard the loud crashing coming from downstairs. His father was home and went on a mental rampage breaking every little ornament that decorated the lounge room. The lounge suite in the entertaining room was the third one Aoshi had to go and buy in two months. His father had a pair of ancient kodachi's used back in the Meiji Era; the blades kept in very good condition surprisingly enough. A drunken father and kodachi's was not a good mix either. 

Aoshi swiftly got out of the bed, still dressed in his PE Uniform and curled up into the darkest corner of his bedroom. His arms were wrapped around his shins and his chin was placed on top of his knees looking over at his bedroom door. 

"Please full unconscious…please full unconscious…" Aoshi muttered over and over again as he heard his fathers loud footsteps head upstairs. He held his breath when they stopped right outside his door and then the banging began…the father wanting to break the door down, but having used up all of his energy in tearing the lounge room apart he was doing it all in vain.

"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!" His father yelled in a slurred voice, but Aoshi did no such thing. He curled himself into a ball and began rocking himself back and forth praying to all the gods that he'd hurry up and fall unconscious like he usually did. After about the most horrifying five minutes every night of Aoshi's life that's without counting the beatings…the yelling stopped and a loud thud was heard. His father had promptly gone into sleeping/comatose mode.

Shuddered breaths, almost akin to sniffling came from the severely beaten and tormented young adult, as he never budged from the dark corner of his bedroom. This night he had lived another day and as he drifted off into a weak and troubled sleep, his head resting against a chest of draws the house growing silent as the night began to turn into yet another day of heartache and beatings for Shinomori Aoshi. 

* * * *

To be continued…

* * * *


	5. Chapter V

****

High School Crushes are for Wimps

Aoshi stepped off the bus and slowly made his way towards the school. His stomach hurt, actually his entire body ached and not just the beating he received from his father, but also the position he had fallen asleep in. His head hurt and a strong breeze had picked as it blew is black hair around, showing every student he walked passed the large black eye he had received. His face was slightly drawn, a troubled sleep was what he had every night…and yet now that he was back at school it seemed even worse. Not only did he have to work part time at a mini mart store, he had school to attend to, the wrath of his drunken father and his new after school activity, which had actually been approved by his father and that was something that took Aoshi by surprise.

"Ohayoo Shinomori-kun." Aoshi lifted his head when he heard that female voice and returned the greeting to Megumi who was now walking beside him.

"Ohayoo… Um, thanks for the notes by the way." Megumi let off her laugh and then smacked him playfully in the stomach, which Aoshi cringed at since it still throbbed from the last nights ordeal. Megumi noticed the change in Aoshi's facial expression and gasped lightly before apologising.

"Gomen ne Shinomori-kun, are you alright? Did I hurt you or something?" She had stopped walking to check on Aoshi who was now rubbing his stomach and trying to think up an excuse at the same time.

"Iie Takani, I'm okay. Perhaps I feel a little queasy since I forgot to eat breakfast this morning." Aoshi observed as Megumi rummaged through her bag and brought out a green apple placing it in his hand.

"You really should eat Shinomori-kun, my father says breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Well I have to get going, I must catch up with Yume-chan and Tomoe-chan before they head into class, ja ne!" She waved and ran off, not before smacking her bag over Sano's head whom was busy talking to a girl that was blushing profusely at whatever it was that he was saying to her.

Aoshi looked down at the apple and then promptly threw it in the trash bin he walked passed. Its not that he didn't like apples or the sweet gesture Megumi did for him, it was the fact that he had already eaten…but the churning in his stomach needed to settle lest he bring his food back up. He thought it was subsiding but Megumi's playful punch had started it up again. Aoshi stopped near a drinking machine and bought himself a bottle of water and took two of the tablets Nurse Okon ordered him to take each morning and night.

As Aoshi headed into the building he never did sense a pair of curious eyes watching him that morning. Keen violet eyes had noticed that Aoshi absently rubbed his stomach region every now and then and it seemed that the black eye he received from Misao had been irritated and blown up. Kenshin had become the new teacher at the high school just after Aoshi had dropped out. Even the teachers had spread rumours around amongst themselves not sure what was up with the Shinomori boy. There had been rumours about him living on the streets, to him trying to commit suicide, to ones about his mother and her "mysterious" death as they put it. Kenshin sighed trying to shake worried thoughts from his mind. He glanced down at a slip of paper as it was his new list of members into his martial arts classes and noticed that Aoshi had enrolled. Perhaps this was his chance to get to know the teenager a little better. He knew it wasn't his "duty" to involve himself in the lives of his students, but Kenshin felt it right within himself to look out for the troubled teenagers, for he himself had been a troubled teenager as well. 

"Ohayoo Himura-sensei!" Kenshin snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed four girls waving good morning to him. He voiced his own greeting back to them and waved back. He let off a nervous laugh when they turned red and hurriedly walked off while giggling to themselves. Kenshin really didn't understand high school students these days at all.

* * * * 

(History Class)

Kenshin sat quietly up the front of the classroom and marked papers from another one of the subjects he taught. His students were relatively quiet, but there were always a couple of voices floating around here and there. He glanced up everytime he heard them, his eyes blatantly staring at the "guilty" student who quietened down and never spoke for the rest of the lesson. Again the students were taking notes from a chapter that had been read to them and answering some questions, which will be read aloud in a group discussion before the lesson ended.

Kenshin's violet eyes moved to the back of the class, the student known as Kamatari who sat in front of Aoshi was absent today and so he silently observed Aoshi for several moments. His face had scrunched up every now and then, Kenshin not too sure whether it was a "thinking" face or a "pained" face. He also took notice that Misao too was gazing at Aoshi, an almost unreadable expression on her face…almost, but not quite. Curiosity showed up by the way that she bit her bottom lip unconsciously. So the Shinomori boy had sparked some small interest inside of Misao after all. This was most intriguing for Kenshin to discover. Both teacher and student thoughts were lost when a loud screeching was heard. Students turned around, Kenshin watching as Aoshi abruptly stood up, his face contorted in a discomforting manner.

"Su-Sumimasen…" He muttered and raced for the door ripping it open and running down the hallway. Students stood up to crowd near the windows to peer down the hallway watching Aoshi's retreating back disappear. The only two that were actually left sitting down was Kenshin and Misao. Their eyes met for a mere second, but a small smile was placed on Kenshin's lips as Misao diverted her eyes away and proceeded to gaze boredly out the window as though she didn't have a care in the world.

"Sagara, please go check on Shinomori and come straight back if there are any problems." Sano nodded his head and took off. He was ecstatic that he was getting out of class and yet a small amount of worry began to brew in his stomach.

* * * *

(Male Bathroom)

Sano creaked the door open and peered inside not seeing his friend around. Just when he was ready to leave and head for another male bathroom he heard some coughing from one of the toilet stalls. He proceeded to head in the direction of where the coughing…or should it be regurgitating now was coming from. He noticed that the door was slightly ajar, obviously Aoshi having forgotten to lock it and he pushed it open to see his new found friend slumped on the floor, one hand resting on the bowl while the other brushed some sweat from his forehead. Sano's brown eyes widened as he noticed a trickle of blood coming from the corner of Aoshi's mouth. 

Aoshi on the other hand hadn't even heard the intrusion into his little "vomiting" episode as he blocked out all noise when he had moments like this…not too mention he was feeling a little hazy and weak from not eating anything truly health since lunch yesterday. His breakfast only contained a chocolate bar as he left the house before his father decided to wake up.

* * * * 

(Back in the classroom)

Kenshin had finally gotten his class back into order, but his head snapped up, as did his students when pounding footsteps and a loud voice broke the silence through the corridor.

"HIMURA-SENSEI COME QUICK!" Sano yelled in a not so discreet tone of voice. He skidded to a halt outside his classroom and beckoned his teacher to follow him. As Kenshin stood so did many of his overly curious students.

"If I see any of you out of this classroom you'll all have detention and an essay to write." Kenshin spoke in a firm voice, his students groaning as they sat back in their seats. He jogged down the corridor with Sano, he speaking as they did so.

"Shinomori's spewing up blood!" Kenshin nearly cringed at Sano's blunt and quite descriptive words. Nothing was spoken as Kenshin entered the bathroom while Sano remained outside, just in case any younger…or older students for that matter wished to come in. He'd soon tell them were to go if they dared try to enter.

* * * *

"Shinomori, is everything alright?" Kenshin spoke in a soft gentle voice, trying not to scare his student into hiding from him. That was not possible in Aoshi's case as he had no where to hide in the first place. Kenshin slowly pushed the door open to see a crumbled Aoshi with his head resting on the toilet bowl and his eyes closed. He was…he was sleeping! Kenshin was about to shake Aoshi awake, ready to reprimand him for making him worry and that's when he too noticed the bloody near his mouth…not to mention what was floating inside the bowl! His eyebrows scrunched up as he flushed the toilet and pulled Aoshi…a now slightly heavier Aoshi out of the toilet stall and leaned him against a changing bench. He brought over some paper towels having placed them under the water to drench them and decided to clean Aoshi's face. Although he was maturer then any of the students in the high school he looked like an innocent young boy, but a slightly broken one at that right at this very moment.

"Sagara, you may come inside." Kenshin spoke and Sano did exactly that.

"Help me take him to Nurse Okon." Kenshin spoke and lifted Aoshi up placing one arm over his shoulder while Sano took Aoshi's right side. 

"Himura-sensei, what do you think is wrong with him?" Sano spoke softly, not really sure what to say or do at a time like this.

"I don't know, but I **_will_** find out one way or another." Kenshin replied to Sano as his eyes narrowed and began to flash an unusual amber-gold colour. Oh, he would definitely find out, no matter how much prying it would take him. 

* * * *

To be continued…

* * * *

Authors Notes: Well, that took longer then I expected for sure. Sorry for the delay (in all of my stories in fact) but hey not like this pays the bills or anything… I wish! Work has been a pain in the ass…more then that actually but I won't open up that huge big crevice. Now whom have I used so far? Hmm, let's see:

Misao, Aoshi, Kenshin, Megumi, Sano, Tomoe, Yume, Soujiro, Enishi, Tsubame and Kamatari (but not much) and not to forget Okina (Misao's absent grandfather, so he's never in it).

Who is to come you ask? Well let's see… There's Hiko-sama, Yahiko and Kaoru (She's got one controversial role in this!) left and maybe something from Genzai-sensei and of course Ayame and Suzume-chan, guess who they are?

Ho hum, what to do…what to do…oh reply to some comments yes! Well yes it is yet another AU, since I pretty much stink at RK Universe stories so I'll let the pro's stick to them and maybe take notes on how Aoshi and Misao "really" act in those ones. I can't help writing AU it's the best! Well to some extent… Anywho right at this moment I sort of know what's coming and stuff, but in my head its coming way too fast for the plot of the story, but I might pan it out or just go for it…I haven't fully decided yet. Oh and yes it may seem OOC from every character but it's a total turn around ne? I mean I like having it this way, it gives me new material to write about. Especially having Misao the ice queen, Aoshi the troubled young adult with the abusive father, Sano who will become Aoshi's most trusted and quite protective friend and Kenshin the very nosy, but worried teacher of theirs. You'll soon find out just why he's taking care of Misao so much.

Truthfully I don't know if I'll actually have Misao and Aoshi "end up together" in the end, but we'll see. Right now in my brain it doesn't add up that way which is a damned shock! My favourite coupling not together, oh the horror of it all! Well be sure to see a little "tag along" for Misao as Tsubame wants to befriend her and yes she'll call her 'Makimachi-sempai' while Tsubame has a follower of her own in Yahiko…even though she's too dumb to realise.

Confrontations are coming…and I think I might have Misao and Aoshi develop one of those relationships were you can sit together in a library and talk about books or work or study, but that's it, so its like friends…but no were close to being friends. Err, that made no sense…oh well. Oh as for longer chapters…no way. When I think I might be able to "torture" my readers with a little 'to be continued' I think why the hell not since its done to me by other authors. *Glares at the authors of the stories she is reading*

On another note, none of my stories are ever forgotten…okay maybe 'Belonging to Sesshomaru' but other then that they are always on my mind, but never enough ideas to go on. Stop asking about Car Trouble! It isn't happening okay? No thoughts, no spark, so stop before Noa goes insane over pleading messages were she starts feeling guilty about keeping you waiting, but…but there is only one me…and well this isn't full time, just my hobby…along with my anime collecting and I can't keep up with all my stories at once. This brain has a mind of its own! HA! I do thank everyone for the wonderful reviews of course, but if there isn't a spark in my mind on that story it will stay 'to be continued' for sometime…but never fear it'll come to me one day, I just don't want to produce a really shitty chapter. Minna, you understand right?

Till next time… *kills over*


	6. Chapter VI

****

High School Crushes are for Wimps

Aoshi groaned lightly as he was beginning to awaken from his spell of unconsciousness. As Kenshin leaned over him, since he stayed to make sure Aoshi was okay in the end and noticed that he began to rapidly blink trying to focus his eyes and brought his arms up as though protecting his face for unknown reasons.

"Shinomori, why do you that?" Kenshin spoke as he waved Nurse Okon out of the room for the moment. Aoshi's ears noted that familiar voice…and finally worked out he had been sick, fell asleep in the bathrooms and was found by his teacher! He slowly brought his arms down and sat up as he turned his head away from his teacher and muttered out a quick reply.

"The lights are too bright…and how would _you_ like it if you had some unfamiliar face loom over you so suddenly?" 

"Tell me something Shinomori, does this happen a lot?" Kenshin glanced his calm eyes into Aoshi's.

"Does what happen a lot?" Aoshi questioned his teacher and crossed his arms over his chest in doing so.

"I was merely wondering why your black eye is swollen a lot more then yesterday afternoon. Not to mention the fact that your cut looks like its been reopened and I doubt your vomiting episode was the result of that either." Aoshi scowled lightly at his observant teacher and finally spoke in a confident tone of voice hoping his teacher would back off.

"I must have fallen asleep on that side and my pillow could have possibly irritated it and as for my sickness what of the tablets I'm taking? There could be side effects for all I know…"

"Shinomori-kun is right Kenshin-san, I've had other students come in here saying that they've been sick on the tablets, but it should pass in a day or two." Aoshi began thanking all the gods when Nurse Okon walked in and voiced those wonderful words. He felt relief flood his body when he observed as Kenshin stood up from his seated position and moved towards the door to leave him be.

"Oh, I noticed your name on my martial arts list Shinomori, so I shall see you this afternoon if you are feeling better."

"I cannot make the lesson this afternoon Himura-sensei, I have work after school, but I'll change my schedule when I see my boss so that I can fit it in." Aoshi replied instantly and watched Kenshin turn around, his face a little shocked at hearing Aoshi voice he had a part time job.

"You work Shinomori? Shouldn't your parents…I mean shouldn't your father be more concerned with you finishing off your education rather then having a part time job?"

"What does it matter anyway, this money is for me and I choose to work because it is my decision to make."

"But Shino-"

"Look Himura-sensei, just educate me and don't ask questions. My life is my own and I shall do whatever I wish with it. Leave your questions for other students who actually don't mind their teachers meddling in their private lives." Kenshin sighed at his words and couldn't help but voice what he had been thinking ever since Aoshi had come back to school.

"You and Makimachi think the same thoughts…" There was a thick silence in the room and Kenshin opened the door to head outside but was stopped…and quite shocked at Aoshi's straightforward question.

"Just what is it with you and Makimachi anyway?"

"Wh-What do you mean?" Kenshin couldn't believe this one question made him stutter so. He gulped down the lump in his throat and stiffly turned around to face Aoshi who was now getting out of the bed.

"In truth nobody seems to like her…but you. She doesn't speak with anyone, even ignoring you at times and obviously she has no friends. I'm sure you've heard the term 'Ice Queen' right? Why is it that you seem to be the only person wishing to speak with her as though you care for her well being? I'd like to know why you seem to worry over her so much?"

"…"

"Yo Shinomori-kun you're up!" Sano's voice bellowed loudly as he broke the thick silence and tension between curious student and surprised teacher. Aoshi gazed his eyes over into warm cinnamon ones, they flickering with slight concern for him and then back to their teachers. 

"Come on Sano, let's get out of here." Aoshi muttered knowing he'd never get an answer from Kenshin now. The two students left the room with Kenshin observing Sano place his hand on Aoshi's shoulder silently asking him whether he was okay. Kenshin's head had tilted in thought as he stewed over Aoshi for a moment. He was smart…extremely smart and he knew that his observant student wouldn't stop until he found answers to his questions. 

"Kenshin-san are you alright?" Okon spoke as she walked up to her workmate. He seemed to snap out of his thoughts and nod his head while letting off a small chuckle. She watched him leave the clinic and shook her head to remake the bed Aoshi had been lying in. 

"What a strange secretive man…"

* * * * 

(7pm - A Residential Street)

Kenshin was walking home having finished his classes with his students. Some had progressed nicely over the break while others had slackened off and he "punished" them when he found out that they had not gone to any of the classes his own mentor taught. Punished meant another half-hour of vigorous workouts in which it ended up making a couple of his students collapse to the gym floor. They now knew that slackness in Himura-sensei's classes was not on.

Kenshin had helped them stretch out their tired muscles and packed up all the equipment. That is why he was a little later then usual. He always said he'd be home at 6:15 to 6:30 since his apartment wasn't far from the school, but as he looked down at his watch when he unlocked the front door he could instantly feel the impatient and worrying aura that belonged to,

"Mou Kenshin! What took you so long? I had dinner cooked and everything, but now it's all ruined because of you!" He walked into the kitchen to see his beautiful partner throwing out the dinner she made.

"Gomen ne Kaoru, let me make something for us." Kenshin spoke as he placed his bag near the wall and headed over towards the kitchen and sat down on the stool near the preparation bench. Her hair was placed up in a high ponytail and held together with a light blue ribbon. She was wearing a yellow long summer dress and her bare small feet peaked out from under the dress when she stepped up on tiptoes while voicing her new dinner plans.

"Iie, I'll just make us up some instant noodles ne?" She turned to give him a heart-stopping smile while dumping the rest of the dinner in the garbage bin. She was on her tiptoes to reach the flavoured noodles sitting in the cupboard and flicked on the kettle to boil the water. 

Silence broke through their apartment and Kaoru glanced behind her wondering what was up with Kenshin since usually he talked about his day at work and came over to kiss, but not in that order of course. He had done neither, which meant something was up. She may only just have finished high school over a year ago, making her inexperienced in a lot of things, but she knew Kenshin's faces and the one he wore now was of deep thought…and slight sadness. She knew now wasn't the time to ask him any questions when he was like this and went back to lifting the disposable lids off the instant noodles and began pouring the hot water into the cups. As she brought the first one over to the counter Kenshin began to speak in a soft voice…he having begun to open up to her without her even pestering him to do so.

"I care for all my students and yet there are two I can never reach. Actually I never really reach many of them, but these two are pent up on unknown emotions and I just feel like helping them. I know what its like to be lost…not sure of yourself, but these two are stuck in their own stubborn ways." Kaoru placed down the noodle bowl and patted Kenshin's hand that rested on the bench lightly. His soft violet eyes gazed into her blue ones as she held a small smile…an encouraging smile. 

"One day she'll come around Kenshin, you just have to keep being persistent. Right now it might be futile, but I know in the end Misao-chan will be the same genki girl she once was as you say she was. Patience is needed…and your very good at being patient Kenshin. Misao-chan will always be apart of your life…and one day maybe you should tell her the truth about just how much she really means to you." Kaoru heard Kenshin sigh lightly as he was stewing on more thoughts then just Misao. She leaned over placing a kiss on his cheek and then headed over to the stove to pick up the other noodle cup.

"Her and Shinomori Aoshi are so alike…" Kenshin muttered but his head snapped up when he heard the sound of noodles and water hitting the tiled kitchen floor. Kaoru's back was to him and he stood up moving around the counter to place his hands on her shoulders. He swiftly made her turn to face him, but her head was bowed and her hands clasped at her heart. Kenshin placed his right hand lifting up Kaoru's chin to see her eyes had welled up with tears.

"S-Say that name again…?" She spoke in a soft voice in which Kenshin muttered Aoshi's name abiding to her request.

"I…I have not heard that name in so long." Kenshin's eyebrows creased hearing Kaoru's confession and he moved her out of the kitchen, forgetting the noodles for now and walked her to sit down in the lounge room. He sat quietly besides her, watching as Kaoru swiftly brushed her tears away.

"We sort of grew up together…and well I…I had this crush on him all the way through primary school and junior high, but he flatly told me no when I finally got the courage to ask him out. He told me crushes were for wimps and I cried my eyes out while I ran home that afternoon. I used to even bring him lunch, which he always said he wasn't hungry and I watched him walk away from me everyday. He was so mean…but I…I still loved him."

"I didn't know the two of you knew each other Kaoru." Kenshin replied as he heard Kaoru laugh lightly as though thinking of something and then she turned to face him gazing into his eyes.

"Of course you didn't, we had to be so secretive when we were together that for hours on end we'd just end up sitting together in silence not bothering to voice anything. I hardly know a thing about you…and you of me and yet we seem to still be okay with it all. Because of me you had to leave remember…and…and well we kind of waited for over three years to pass before really seeing each other."

"Do you know Shinomori well?" Kenshin questioned bringing the conversation back to his male student.

"Nobody really knows him, but I guess when you have a crush on him you try and find out as much about him as possible. You know his mother died right Kenshin? They would place that in his student records right?" Kaoru spoke and watched as Kenshin nodded his head affirmatively.

"He was just a young boy too and that's when he really began to change…the bruises began to show and the beatings had only just began."

"Beatings…?" Kenshin muttered lightly and his eyes widened as his mind flashed back to Aoshi's swollen face and his hand constantly rubbing his stomach.

"Kaoru, tell me everything you know of Shinomori Aoshi." Kaoru looked up at Kenshin's serious face, his hands cupping her shoulders determinedly. She now knew she had let slip something that he…or many others for that matter knew nothing about and there was no turning back when his face expression was of one determined 'ex-rebellious and troubled child'. Everything she knew of one Shinomori Aoshi would be known to him…to do as he pleased…

* * * * 

To be continued…

* * * *

Authors Notes: There is so much I could right "in-between" the actual story, but the way its panning in my head is going faster then I can actually write/type it out. Yeah that's a pain and if I place in pointless matter I know I'll begin to bore people to death, cause if I find it boring then it is not good. I sort of wanted Aoshi and Misao to step slowly into a "friendship" but I think it'll be thrust upon them thanks to Kenshin…and well Tsubame has to come in as the "little annoying girl" that won't leave 'Makimachi-sempai' alone. 

I was thinking, I'll draw it out, but then thought 'no' because it's not the way it was thought out in my head originally. Sure its in school, but I think most of it will be out of school type stuff…err…if that actually makes any sort of sense.

Anywho I've got a headache so I'll leave all of you with this small snippet. Ja ne! (^_^)


	7. Chapter VII

****

High School Crushes are for Wimps

Kenshin sat on his lounge, facing Kaoru as he waited for her to begin the story of Aoshi Shinomori. To think someone like Aoshi was an abused child was quite strange, but when Kenshin looked back on the way Aoshi was so stubborn and private, not wishing for anyone to interfere with his life, he now knew why. He may be a young adult of 18 years, but inside he was still very much a young troubled boy in front of a father that loathed who he was. Kenshin eyed Kaoru as she got up to walk around for a moment. It seemed that the information she was about to tell him was truly worrying her…especially since she had no idea what he would do with it all. As Kaoru drifted passed him Kenshin clasped her hand, Kaoru's eyes boring into his intently.

"All I want is to help him Kaoru…onegai?" Her eyes had softened at his calm voice. His facial expression had changed as well which Kaoru finally sat down again and was ready to spill all she knew.

Kenshin had to visibly calm down in the past ten minutes, apologising to Kaoru in doing so as she had never seen such an expression cast over his face before. The look of surprise in her eyes, dashed with some fear made him calm down his rage immediately. His rebellious youth wanted to be set free, to lash out at all the people, who had mocked and tormented him and yet as he stared into Kaoru's blue eyes Kenshin knew he could not. He was no longer that rebellious youth thanks to the man that took him into his home and cared for his well being. That was the first time Kenshin had opened his eyes when he did not feel a slap across his face for wetting the futon. He had stared into calm eyes that night, the man not speaking any words of detest and instead all he did was change him into dry clothes and tucked Kenshin into his own futon watching over him for that night. From that night onwards Kenshin vowed to be someone different, someone this man could be proud of.

"I was 5 years old when I first saw Aoshi. He sat out in the warm sun reading a book while other children ran around him happily. Our class had gone on an outing to the park that day and yet he was unfazed by the amount of noise the other children made and just went on reading his book. I at the time was actually sitting with a bunch of girls, arranging some flowers we had picked earlier, but my eyes cast over the park and stuck on the strange dark haired boy sitting all on his lonesome. I was up in a second, the flowers being dumped to the ground and I started heading towards him, silently wanting to know why he was by himself and not playing like the others. I never did get close enough to voice my question since Aoshi had closed his book and those innocent bright green-grey eyes of his were gazing at a punch of elderly citizens practicing a kata. They wouldn't have been over 30 but to us at that age it was old." Kenshin sat back against the lounge, watching silently as Kaoru lay on the other half, her head resting on his right thigh. 

"I had walked over to his forgotten book, picking it up as Aoshi had walked off to get a better look at all the interesting moves that were being performed in front of our eyes. Of course I being the curious little girl, had to follow and watched in utter amazement when Aoshi tried to follow exactly what the 'master' was teaching his students. His moves weren't fluent, but his eyes read exactly what the teacher was doing. He never knew what the moves were, neither did I in fact, but his arms followed precisely what was being displayed, but instead of staying upright like the elder men he fell over in the lush grass having tangled his legs up together. It was so funny…and by now he had received the attention of three students and the teacher. I watched him stand up and brush his hands over his butt wiping it of grass stains, his head jerking up in surprise when a hand reached out to take his and the teacher brought him into the class, helping him to learn the first moves of the kata. From that day on I noticed the change in Aoshi, which inevitable got me curious in wanting to know more about him." 

"Kaoru, tell me about the beatings. Do you know how they started?" Kenshin questioned softly.

"They would have started just after Mrs Shinomori passed away. There was always this mystery about the marriage between Mr Shinomori and his wife. People speculated that it was forced or that he had raped her and since she was with child it was only right that he marry her. There were speculations that he beat her up as well, but it wasn't true. In all honesty Mr Shinomori loved his wife dearly and when you love someone you cannot help but give your heart to him or her. My mum works at the hospital and she had seen Mrs Shinomori make a couple of visits more frequently then anyone would have check ups and that's when she found out that she was dying. How can you tell the people you love that you're going to die? My mum said it started just after Aoshi was born and that his birth seemed to trigger the downfall of her immune system, her organs started collapsing having to be hospitalised several times. Not only did Mr Shinomori have a slight mental problem, which he was being treated for he now had to cope with his wife not being beside him now."

"The beatings Kaoru…" Kenshin persisted and watched as she tensed her shoulders slightly. He placed his hand on her bare right one and she sighed lightly knowing she shouldn't be bypassing it all the time.

"Of course his medication stopped, all time stopped for Mr Shinomori the day his wife died. Still rumours floated around that Mr Shinomori had killed his wife, but in truth he wasn't even in the house at the time. The one day Aoshi had finally invited me over to have cookies and milk with him I came along enthusiastically and chatting a mile a minute. We walked into his home and straight for the kitchen where we could smell the scent of burning cookies. Mrs Shinomori was lying…in a pool of her own blood. Aoshi and I were about 6 years old then…and being children we just stood there not knowing what to do the entire time. I swear an hour must have passed until we heard the dropping of mail, papers and a brief case. Mr Shinomori was home and that's how he found all of us. Ambulance was called, but she was already long gone. In a last attempt to end her suffering Mrs Shinomori had ended it all. Actually the worst part about everything was the fact that my mum said Mr Shinomori didn't even know and neither did Aoshi. When he found out that her entire body began to shut down after the birth of their son he lost it completely. After that, with no more medication, everything became Aoshi's fault."

"So the beatings started?" Kenshin retorted and Kaoru nodded her head on his lap.

"Aoshi didn't come to school for an entire week, so instead I went to see him and that's when I saw his first ever bruise. It was so huge, so awful that it didn't suit his cute features and tears wield up in my eyes when I saw him. I remember him voicing he fell over in the backyard but I knew Aoshi wasn't that clumsy and raced home to tell my mum. Of course she never believed me, so one day I finally dragged her over to Aoshi's place…but the bruise was gone and all he did was give me a blank stare as though I had been hallucinating. I observed when we went or lunch to the park that he'd end up faking he was sick, or he would hide amongst the toys, the teachers thinking he'd already left with the other children, but mainly because outside he'd have to take of his school jumper. He'd be doomed then since bruises always covered his arms everyday. It was as though as soon as one went away, he'd have two more to worry over."

"Did you think about telling your teacher?" 

"Of course, but one day Aoshi confronted me and scared me into crying my eyes out that if I told, he'd come and hurt me instead. I never told a soul…until now. Even now that we aren't friends I still feel like I've betrayed him since I'm telling you. Kenshin…is it…still happening even now?" Kaoru spoke as she sat up on her knees facing him. When Kenshin nodded affirmatively, Kaoru instantly bit her lip to try and stop it from trembling.

"Do you know why he lets it happen Kaoru? He's 18 now and yet he decided to come back to school…and still he is abused. For someone so headstrong like Aoshi, it seems strange that he'd take such abuse from his father like this."

"No, not at all Kenshin. In Aoshi's mind he will commit himself to being abused for when he finally finishes his high school certificate he can get back his sisters and leave all his bad memories behind."

"Sisters? But I thought you said…"

"Of course they aren't his real ones, but he had received a letter from the orphanage just around the corner from our place about two little girls needing a loving home. His mother had placed her name down on the list of waiting for any little girls needing homes and when Aoshi was 12 he had come across the letter in the mailbox before his father had found it. They were but small girls, just born and so it wasn't time for them to be given up for adoption, but when Aoshi was 16 he headed straight for the orphanage and instantly fell in love with the four year olds. He signed papers and said all he needed was two years and then he'd be here to get them. He'd met them many times and they loved him instantly, already calling him 'Aoshi-niichan'. However…" Kaoru hiccupped lightly as her eyes misted over with tears.

"His plans were found out by his father and…and his true beating had happened. Aoshi was hospitalised for months…an entire year in fact. Although my attraction and infatuation for Aoshi had lessened over the years when I met you, I still cared and wanted to know of his well being. I had come to his home, dressed nicely and held a plate of biscuits I baked myself and was just about to knock on the door when I heard the loudest crash. Instantly I ran inside, the door never being locked and all I saw was a crippled body and blood. Aoshi's father was nowhere to be found and I screamed loudly at the sight of Aoshi. He was…beaten to a bloody pulp that I don't even know to this day how he survived. I guess the love and protection he felt for Ayame and Suzume-chan fearlessly kept him live. He was in a comma for three months…"

"Why was this not spoken about to the police?" Kenshin spoke in utter horror at what Kaoru was describing to him.

"Because although I saw Aoshi lying in a bloody heap I never saw the so called "hoodlum" as the cops put it as. His father miraculously rang the cops saying his home had been ran sacked and that there was blood and that's when he ran into the hospital room Aoshi was in. It made me sick that he could place on such an act in front of people that I ran out of the room and threw up in the bathroom. He's a rotten man, but Aoshi has no way of paying for his tuition, his books, his extra tutoring he would need for schooling…and his father is all he has. If Aoshi pulled the plug on his dad, just where would he go?"

"A better place that's for sure!" Kenshin stood up as he paced the lounge room deciding on what o do with Mr Shinomori.

"Kenshin stop! What wrong with you? Why are you angry all of a sudden?" Kaoru stood up her hands clasped at her chest, her eyes frowning in worry as she stared into Kenshin's. She watched as he bowed his head, his red bangs blocking off his violet eyes from her.

"I was 4 when I had first been beaten up myself. It was only a verbal beating at the time, but it struck me hard, ripping my already broken heart apart. All I received was 'you're a mistake, such a burden to us'. I was never apart of their family and was tossed away during the night to the outskirts of a small village I'd never even heard of. That night I had my first beating…I remember it as though it happened yesterday. A first beating will always be remembered…I shall carry the scar with me wherever I go." Kaoru's eyes sparkled with tears, as she knew he just wasn't talking about the pain in his heart, but the scar that crossed his left cheek. She stepped forward, her hand cupping his scar, his eyes jerking towards hers in surprise.

"Yes, it will always be there to remind you of what you went through, but I am glad in a way that it is there. It was but a stepping stone that helped you become the person you are now…the man that I love with all my heart…the man I wish to help even though the darkest of moments." Kaoru placed a light kiss on his crossed scar and then closed her eyes pressing her lips to his. For just a moment the two of them held each other for dear life as they forgot everything that had happened and lived in their special moment.

* * * * 

(The next morning…)

As Kenshin sat at his desk in the classroom he looked over his students. Some were chatting quietly; while others read their books and took notes. The two main ones he was worried about were doing neither. Misao stared out the window, while Aoshi had his head down on his desk. This would not do, Kenshin needed to come up with an idea to get the two of them together. Of course it was a one in a million chance that the two would actually cooperate if he asked them nicely, so instead he'd have to force the issue upon them.

"Class, I have decided the topic for your first science oral essay." Of course the usual groans and annoyed sighs were voiced and as his students looked at him, his mind began turning over ideas of how in the hell he was going to pair Aoshi and Misao together without it looking obvious. As Kenshin turned his back to his students to write up what the topic was going to be, his mind finally snapped out a way to pair his students up. His hand lifted up as he stopped students from picking out their partners for the project and instead he voiced his brilliant plan aloud. 

"I have decided that the students in rows two and four must turn to their left and who ever is sitting beside them in row one and three is going to be their partner. Just to make it fair the person sitting in row one and three get to pick the organ to do a discussion on as I shall now write them down and place them in a hat." Kenshin finally did just that and Sano started off as he picked out a piece of paper and opened it up to voice it aloud.

"The brain…well that's easy, she's sitting right beside me." Sano spoke as he waved at Megumi who had got him as her partner. In return he was smacked over the head and laughs erupted throughout the classroom. 

"The heart…" Misao spoke as she scrunched the piece of paper up and dumped it back into the hat. Kenshin was literally dancing on the inside at the organ Aoshi and Misao had to talk about. Although the heart was a relatively easy organ to discuss, he'd make sure that any "personal" comments made about the heart would have to be backed up with reasons as to why his students think the way they do. 

"Okay, now you may head to the library now because I want this to be finished in one week. I'll decide then who shall start first when the time comes." As Kenshin followed his students out of the classroom he noticed that although they weren't speaking Aoshi and Misao were actually walking together! Kenshin could not help the small smile that spread across his lips. Oh how he hoped that these two lost souls might just be able to confide in each other. If his plan failed Kenshin had no choice but to confront Aoshi about his abusive father himself and bring it up at the teachers board when they held meetings. He seriously doubted Aoshi would be happy about that.

"So…you wanna check the net while I check the reference books?" Kenshin heard Aoshi question as they stood in the library doorway watching their classmates busy themselves with grabbing organ books from each other. Misao shrugged her shoulders in answer and headed off to the computers' while Aoshi headed off in the other direction towards the reference books. So far…so good…

* * * *

To be continued…

* * * *


	8. Chapter VIII

****

High School Crushes are for Wimps

Kenshin walked around the library to check on each of his students and to see if they had any questions for him on what the oral assignment should entail. He always wished for his students to take the initiative and do what they wanted…just as long as they used certain science/biology words, like how the organs related to other organs inside the body and so on. Kenshin had sighed for the third time in the past half an hour as he proceeded towards Sanosuke Sagara who was again mucking around with one of his classmates and not doing any work. He didn't know why Sanosuke was the way he was, but maybe he didn't like to think of himself as a smart student, because if he worked that's exactly what Sano was. Maybe he was trying to impress a certain young female but going about it entirely the wrong way… 

"Himura-sensei, can we make up some props for show?" One of his female students questioned as he walked past the table they sat at.

"Of course you can. It won't necessarily get you better marks then the other students, but creativity is always something to look forward to when trying to explain organs to others. He watched the two girls smile at him and then they huddled closely together to decide just what they were going to do next week. As Kenshin kept walking, his eyes swiftly moved over towards the table that Takani Megumi was sitting and was surprised to see that Sano had moved to sit next to her and pointed out a couple of things in a book he had actually gotten from the resource shelves. Oh, Megumi was surprised that was for sure, especially the way she blinked silently up at him numerous times, but with the wave of her hand it obviously meant it was time for Sano to take some notes. 

Kenshin's violet eyes had now drifted to the two quietest students in his class. They sat further away from everyone else, on a table that would normally fit four people but took it up with papers and a couple of books. They sat on opposite sides of the table; no conversation breaking out between them to discuss anything and instead they each silently read the information Misao had printed from the internet.

"How is everything going over here?" Kenshin spoke once he reached the table Misao and Aoshi sat at. Their silent peaceful time had been interrupted and he watched as both of his students simultaneously placed down the pages they were reading and stared up at him saying nothing.

"Do the both of you have any questions? I just had one of your classmates ask if props could be used and I have allowed it." Still he received no questions or responses for that matter and nodded his head silently knowing his students probably heard the girls question since the library was pretty dead quiet to begin with. As Kenshin turned to head back to the front counter where he could sit and watch over all his students he heard some shuffling from behind him knowing Aoshi was turning around to look up at him.

"Himura-sensei is it possible for myself and Makimachi to borrow two of the science lab coats?" Kenshin turned around after registering Aoshi's question and noticed the slight confusion flicker across Misao's face as he obviously hadn't told her about his own plan yet.

"I don't see any problem with that." Aoshi nodded his head in affirmation at hearing his teachers consent and went back to highlighting some of the sentences on the sheets of paper in front of him. Kenshin continued to walk off with Misao blinking several times, her eyes pointedly on Aoshi's bowed head.

"Are you planing on telling me your idea?" She spoke in an emotionless tone of voice and Aoshi sat up straight, his hands lifting above his head as he stretched in the chair and yawned.

"First I need to find a mannequin and then I'll tell you my idea."

"A mannequin?" Misao repeated Aoshi's words but watched as he stood up when the bell went signalling they could have a short five minute break to go to the bathroom or grab a drink. 

"I'm getting a soda, want me to grab you one?" Aoshi asked Misao as he fished in his pockets for some loose change. He quickly caught the money Misao threw at him and heard her mumble a coke behind the papers she was reading. Aoshi turned to leave, Misao's eyes drifting away from the heart diagram she had been staring at and instead rested on Aoshi's back.

"Lab coats, a mannequin, just what is he thinking…" Misao mumbled to herself, but sat up straight when she saw a younger student scurry past with a handful of books only to trip over the strap of Aoshi's bag lying on the ground. She collapsed in a heap and Misao sighed as she stood up and moved around the table to notice it had been the same girl from before.

"Do you have some sort of record for how many times you fall over in a day?" Misao questioned the girl, observing as she brushed her short brown hair out of her face and began collecting some of her books together.

"Gomen nasai…" She spoke in a soft whisper and Misao shook her head while grabbing the girl's hand and pulling her to her feet.

"Why are you apologising?" Misao asked again, but watched the girl bow at her, which made her raise her eyebrow in curious wonder.

"I apologise for distracting you from your studies Makimachi-sempai." Now that really caught Misao off guard. How was it that this girl knew who she was?

"How do you know my name? You are clearly a grade 10 student."

"Everyone knows the ice queen." Misao heard the girl gasp in horror at her own words, her brown eyes growing wide as she stared at Misao in fear. 

"What's your name?" Misao spoke as she completely ignored the ice queen remark for some odd reason.

"S-S-Sanjou Tsubame, it's a pleasure to meet you after all the run in's we have had because of me." 

"Well Sanjou Tsubame shouldn't you be running along to class before you get detention for being late?" Misao watched as she gasped in shock and then bowed mumbling a quick thank you and then raced towards the counter to loan out the books she selected before racing out the door, almost tripping again but kept on her feet and headed for her next class. 

"Who was that Makimachi?" Kenshin questioned as he stood beside Misao having noticed she was having a conversation with the other short girl. He watched Misao shrug her shoulders as she went back to sit in her chair and pick up her printouts once more.

"Some strange girl that keeps falling over in my vicinity." Misao replied in boredom as she picked up the highlighter Aoshi had been using previously and marked some sentences on the paper. 

"I saw you having a conversation with her…" Kenshin spoke as he sat on the edge of the desk looking over Misao and observed as she sighed placing the page down and picked up another one.

"I told her to watch were she was going and if she ever tripped near me again I would have to beat her up." Kenshin's eyes had grown wide at the serious tone in Misao's voice.

"I seriously doubt you'd truly inflict physical pain onto any student since they already cower at your icy death glare Makimachi." Came a remark from behind Kenshin and he sat up from the desk to watch Aoshi sit back down in his chair and wordlessly hand the can of coke over to her.

"Eh, I've never been one for physical strength so I gotta have something to make them leave me the hell alone."

"Spoken like a true ice queen." Aoshi retorted instantly as he opened his bottle of water and drunk half its contents. Misao spoke of no cocky remark as she took a drink from the coke can and went back to reading.

"What, no hasty reply to that?" Aoshi spoke with a raised eyebrow.

"Himura-sensei was still behind you so I thought it best not to cause a complete commotion." 

"And now?" Aoshi questioned once more, watching Misao place down another paper and pick up a book this time while replying to his little statement again.

"The moment has already passed and I don't feel like verbally abusing you at the moment."

"Is that right. So you mean you'll just save it for a later date huh?" Misao glanced over at Aoshi, her eyes blinked as she could have sworn there was a smirk on his lips for about two seconds. She had caught some odd flicker in his eyes, but his long bangs and his quick facial reflexes sent him back into emotionless Shinomori Aoshi before Misao even had a chance to analyse it all.

* * * * 

The class ended quickly, making the school day draw close to an end. Misao was currently placing her loose notes and the printed matter she got from the internet into her folder and placed it in her bag. Her eyes wondered over to other students noting most were already packed up and waiting for the bell to go. Her blue eyes drifted to Aoshi's standing form as he spoke quietly with a dark haired girl. Misao remembered that her name was Takani something, but never paid enough attention to get her first name. Except for that Sagara Sanosuke guy since he was always the person to get in the most trouble. He knew that girl sat next to him and constantly smacked him over the head for stupid reasons. Misao would have thought someone like Sano would have snapped back…unless…

Misao drifted her eyes back to Aoshi and the Takani girl and watched as she laughed lightly, one of her hands brushing over Aoshi's right arm as she did so. Misao's lips had turned into a frown just by watching that and she quickly darted her gaze away. Aoshi was at the photocopier and was copying some pages he had marked with scrap paper from the books he found on the resource shelves and was only half listening to what Megumi was talking about. She seemed intrigued to want to know the ins and outs of Misao in which Aoshi had shrugged his shoulders and told her if she was so interested then go ask the girl herself. 

Misao's eyes had not drifted back to Megumi and Aoshi as they parted ways so he could come back and grab his folder and bag. Misao scribbled a note on a piece of paper and placed it out for Aoshi to take.

"Meet me here at about 11pm tonight." Aoshi unfolded the note glancing down at the street address and turned to see Misao dump some books on the return shelf and head out of the library not saying anything more then she had to. 

"Aoshi-kun are you coming?" Megumi spoke loudly to grab Aoshi's attention which snapped him out of staring down at the note, he stuffing it into his pocket, grabbing his folder and his bag and headed towards Sano and Megumi whom were waiting for him as they walked back to their lockers together.

"We're hanging out at my older brothers place this afternoon Aoshi-kun, wanna come?" Sano spoke as he headed out the school grounds, untucking his uniform shirt in doing so and met up with Megumi, Yume, Tomoe, Enishi and Soujiro who were already at the gates waiting. Aoshi glanced down at his watch noting the time and replied while waving goodbye to everyone and headed in the opposite direction.

"Maybe another day Sano I've got work this afternoon, see you guys tomorrow." 

* * * *

(Shiro's Mini Mart)

"Shiro-san I'm here, did you want me to close up tonight?" Aoshi spoke as he headed out the back to get changed into the uniform he had to wear for work. He watched the elder man who was probably in his late thirties bring out some boxes as Aoshi had to restock the shelves like he did every second night of the week.

"I would most appreciate that Aoshi. I swear my wife is going to get serious on the divorce issue if I'm not home early tonight. Now I'd like you to start restocking the shelves in lane 3 this evening. We seem to be running low on canned food these days."

"You know she's only joking Shiro-san and I'll get right onto stocking the shelves for you." Aoshi responded towards his boss while placing the boxes on a trolley before heading out to lane 3.

"Aoshi, is everything all right?" Shiro questioned the young man as he noticed the drawn look on his face…and the black eye.

"I'm just a little tired that's all. I finally decided to finish my high school certificate and went back to school…and what happens I got hit by a softball on my first day. Not to worry though I'll be fine. Oh, Shiro-san I've got a new activity to attend to after school so I was kind of hoping we could change my work schedule around a bit." Aoshi spoke and watched the elder man nod lightly.

"I see no problem in that. When you have a break come see me in the office to discuss your changes."

"Arigatoo Shiro-san!" Aoshi spoke with a bit more happiness in his voice and headed out of the back and down lane three to stop in front of the canned fruit section. He glanced at his watch noting he had exactly six hours before he would be meeting Misao at that location she wrote down. Lucky for him that Shiro's mini mart closed around 10:30pm, which gave him enough time to head to the address given to him on the paper.

* * * *

(11:15pm)

Misao was tapping her foot impatiently on the concrete floor of the alleyway. It was cold, dark and not exactly a smart idea to be by herself in an alleyway, but she still waited for him. Could he have gotten lost? Or was he just plain stupid and forgot to meet her here in the first place? Misao's began to seethe on the spot but jumped nearly ten feet in the air when a hand tapped her shoulder making her shriek in fright and whip around to attack the stranger in self defence.

"Take it easy Makimachi, it's just me." Aoshi responded as he caught Misao's fisted hand in his left hand before it connected with his abdomen.

"Don't do that, have you ever heard of voicing you are here! You men have no sense of time what's so ever!" Misao fumed and then promptly turned around snubbing Aoshi and proceeded to head further into the alleyway.

"So where is it that you are taking me exactly?" Aoshi spoke walking a metre or two behind Misao, he trying not to step in all the water puddles as he only just bought these pair of sneakers a couple weeks ago, but Misao didn't care whatsoever as she sauntered through in some boots. 

"To get you your bloody mannequin of course!" Misao snapped at him and then stopped in front of a large dumpster bin. Aoshi stared blankly at it, observing as Misao turned around and waved for him to jump in. He crossed his arms defiantly over his chest and stood stock still not moving an inch.

"Oh if you're going to be that much of a baby then give me a boost so I can get inside Shinomori." Misao quirked up while placing her hands on the cold metal of the bin when Aoshi gave her a boost and then she fell inside, her body connecting with whatever was lying inside. Aoshi could not see inside, it was an extremely tall dumpster bin. He heard several noises coming from the bin and then quickly caught a pair of mannequin legs that were thrown out by Misao. Next came a head, two arms and then upper body. He saw Misao grab the edge, sit on it and then watched her jump down to the concrete, her hands brushing off some left over food that had been in the rubbish bin for god knows how long.

"Shop here often?" Aoshi question with a hint of humour in his eyes that Misao hadn't noticed. He caught the legs Misao threw at him as her reaction to his question and he watched her pick up the other pieces and began walking towards the main City Street.

"Not really, I just occasionally come down here, get dressed up in my leather and go searching for guys who want sexual favours. It's my night off tonight though." Misao retorted back in a bland tone of voice.

"Damn…and I could have been one of those guys too." Aoshi responded instantly and stepped out into the light of the busy street, numerous pedestrians glancing there way at wondering what two young teenagers were doing with a broken mannequin.

"Your sick." Misao responded and started walking across the road without even using the traffic lights.

"I'm sick you're the one that started up on the sexual favours not me."

"So what do you want the mannequin for? I've got the goods for you so tell me what you're going to do with it." Misao questioned Aoshi as she stopped walking on the other side of the street; she not moving until Aoshi gave her reason too. 

"So how far from here do you live Makimachi?" Aoshi questioned knowing that he was testing her patience.

"About 15 minutes in the direction, why?" She spoke and yelled 'hey' in doing so as Aoshi headed off in the direction she had pointed in.

"Its cold, its late, the mannequin needs a home to stay in and I'll tell you my idea on the way so start walking Makimachi." Misao bristled at his orders but mumbled something Aoshi couldn't hear and walked silently beside him, she trying not to look at the embarrassing way the mannequin's legs sat across his shoulders.

* * * *

(An apartment building)

"I'm not inviting you up." Misao spoke instantly as she punched in a code to open the front doors to the apartment building.

"I never said I wanted to come up, so I'll just leave Betty here with you." Aoshi dumped the legs on the ground and began walking off. He could almost feel the anger rising within Misao now.

"Wait a minute! I'm not making two trips up so you come back here and pick up Betty's legs you jackass!" Misao stomped her foot for effort and Aoshi turned around to see she held the door open…inviting him up.

"Well that was harsh, but I knew you'd see it my way in the end." Aoshi spoke as he placed "Betty's" legs over his shoulders again and headed towards the lifts with Misao. She was fuming, her face slightly red from the outburst as she hit the button waiting for the lift doors to open.

"You really shouldn't yell so much Makimachi, you could wake up your neighbours." Aoshi stepped into the lift watching Misao hit floor '8' and heard her mumbled her reply as she leaned against the back wall of the lift.

"I had to verbally abuse you some time…"

"Aa…" Aoshi mumbled in reply and followed Misao out of the lift and walked towards an apartment with 802 on the wooden door which was directly opposite the elevators. Misao dumped the mannequin head on the ground and fished through her bag to grab out her key to unlock her door.

"Shouldn't your parents be pissed off at you for staying out this late?" Aoshi spoke softly and was shoved into the apartment by Misao as she slammed the door closed since she had her heater going and didn't want any warm air to escape.

"They don't live here." Misao spoke as she walked down the dark corridor and entered the main living area, which consisted of the kitchen, the dining and living rooms. She flicked on a corridor light and a couple of lamps in the lounge room, her hand waving Aoshi to come inside.

"Wow, what I wouldn't give to live by myself… So do they live in another city?" Aoshi questioned again as he placed the mannequin legs on the ground.

"You ask a lot of questions." Misao retorted back as she headed for a spare room to dump the mannequin parts in. Aoshi finally figured out what she was doing and followed her inside the cluttered room.

"So tell me to shut up and mind my own business then." 

"Fine, shut up and mind your own business." Misao repeated Aoshi's words as she grabbed the legs from him and placed them on the ground besides the rest of the body. 

"So do they live in another city?" Aoshi contorted once more as he stepped back into the lounge room, Misao pulling a face at his question.

"Didn't I just sa-"

"Doesn't mean I'll actually listen." Aoshi spoke while heading towards the door knowing he was already testing her patience to the limit. He wouldn't really want to piss off the ice queen lest he receive another black eye now would he. 

"You are a pain in the ass…and if you must know they sleep peacefully in a cemetery. Good night…" Aoshi stood in the hallway of the level Misao was on with a closed door in his face. He held a smirk on his lips for the fact that he actually pried something from the girl, but also a flicker of sadness as Misao had no family at all. 

"So I'll come by tomorrow morning and help you carry Betty to school, later Misao." Aoshi replied and headed for the lifts, he not even realising he called Misao by her given name. Misao on the other hand had and she stood stock still at her door looking at his retreating form through the 'peep hole' in the door as he pressed the elevator button to head back downstairs. She watched him silently from her spot behind the door as he wrapped his arms around himself trying to keep warm, but Misao observed as his lips turned into a frown. Just what was h thinking about?

* * * *

Aoshi left the apartment building, a cold breeze blowing through the quiet streets of Kyoto as he starting flagging down a taxi just a block away from Misao's home. As he got inside, telling the driver where to drop him off, his frown deepened when he hadn't even been home yet and forgot to unlock his bedroom window to creep inside. Now he had to take the front door inside and Aoshi's began his silent preys of hoping his father was already unconscious.

* * * *

(Aoshi's home)

The door creaked open, Aoshi cringing as it sounded way to loud in the deadly silence of the house. The car wasn't in the driveway; Aoshi sighing as his father hadn't driven home drunk like he had many times before. However, luck was never on Aoshi's side as out of nowhere a figure grabbed him roughly and pushed him into the lounge room making Aoshi collide with the coffee table, his heavy form snapping it in two. The wood finally gave up after being mistreated too many times.

"Where the fuck have you been boy?" Was his father's crude comment as he landed a quick kick to his side when Aoshi didn't answer.

"You pathetic…useless…good for nothing kid!" Everytime Aoshi's father verbally abused him he brought it along with a kick to the side…or tried to attack his head. 

"STOP, STOP!" Aoshi yelled as he placed his hands over his face, he feeling the front of his uniform being jerked up, he knowing his father was ready to slam him into the broken wood of the coffee table and maybe even try and punch him in the face yet again. Aoshi's instincts to fight back finally broke, his feet curling up into his abdomen no matter how much it hurt as he yelled and kicked with all his might.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME YOU PHYSCO!" Aoshi heard a crashing sound, his father being flung away from him, but paid no attention as he was up on his two feet and ran out of the house, ran as far away as possible from his abusive home. Aoshi heaved for air, his side and legs aching, his head pounding and yet he still ran, ran as much as his legs would take him until he collapsed…and collapsed Aoshi did, falling to the grassy field situated in a park. He gasped for air, silent tears falling down his cheeks from all the running he had down even though his body had protested him not to run. Aoshi curled into a fetal position, this being the only comfortable spot he could rest in and promptly fell asleep in a park, darkness surrounding him as he had fallen under a large maple tree, its thick brunches casting out the moonlight.

* * * * 

To be continued…

* * * *


	9. Chapter IX

****

High School Crushes are for Wimps

Misao took her normal route for jogging she did every morning, down the street turning left to go through the park and then back up another street and down an alleyway as a short cut back to the apartment building. Her routine was becoming boring, Misao almost missing out on going today, but knew she should since she hadn't been for the past three days. She carried a camel backpack containing nothing more then some water and her keys to her apartment. She wore a pair of tracksuit pants and a matching jumper, her tattered sneakers still holding in as her feet pounded the concrete ground as she ran.

As always Misao passed by the usual people she encountered on her runs. A couple arguing, an elderly woman attending some flower pots she placed outside her store, a man hosing down the pathway, but always letting her pass by on her run and the usual trench cloaked figure that sat at the bus stop reading a paper. Misao turned the corner to head into the park and noticed that children were walking with their mothers not caring about how cold the morning really was. Not that it mattered when they were all rugged up anyway. She ran passed minding her own business until a small boy yelled in all his might,

"KACHAN IT'S A DEAD BODY!" Misao had stopped in her tracks when she heard that watching a few women race over…and the shrill scream indicated the child wasn't playing around. Intrigue got the better of Misao and she jogged over hearing one woman cry out if anyone had a phone on them to report this to the police. Misao made her way through the small crowd and her eyes grew wide at the crumpled form in front of her.

"Shinomori!" Misao gasped in horror and immediately bent down to look him over, numerous onlookers whispering and yet not doing anything, but what could you do but stand back and wait… 

Aoshi was still very much in the fetal position he had fallen asleep in but he now held his bag deathly to his chest, almost trying to fight the bitter cold since he had no jumper over his black school uniform coat. Misao's hand immediately went to Aoshi's neck to feel for a pulse and she was relieved when she felt a faint one.

"He's alive! Somebody help me take him to that apartment building right there…please!" Misao spoke and a man who Misao always saw jogging the same route she did made his way through the crowd and helped Misao carry Aoshi towards her home.

* * * * 

(Apartment 802)

"Thank you so much for your help." Misao bowed to the anonymous man and watched him nod curtly and head off towards the lifts. Misao closed and locked her door, she heading silently back into her apartment to see Aoshi lying like a sack of potatoes on her couch, one arm touching the carpet and his head tilted to his right shoulder. When she had asked the jogger to place Aoshi on the couch Misao turned on her portable heater to warm up her lounge room. As Misao now stood above Aoshi she gazed her eyes over his sleeping form. The black eye she had given him was still there, but now her eyes took in the cut lip on his blue tinged lips, a bruise starting to show on the side of his neck and another one on his lower left arm, his black uniform coat having been ripped. Had he been mugged? Misao shook that thought from her head since Aoshi still had his backpack with him. 

Misao headed into her kitchen to get a bowl of warm water and some antiseptic from the cupboard that kept her fist aid kit. She returned, her eyes growing in surprise when she noticed that Aoshi was now pulling himself up from the carpet. Silently she stepped closer, watching Aoshi jerk his head in her direction, his eyes growing slightly wide at seeing he was back in Misao's place…and staring right at her. Had he really run that far and in her direction as though she was the only person that he could rely upon?

"Can I…use your bathroom?" Aoshi mumbled as he got to his feet, his face scrunching up even though he tried not to show Misao his pain, but it was too late…she had read his expression as clear as day. He watched Misao point to the door the bathroom was behind and he limped over and closed it silently behind him.

* * * *

Minutes ticked by as Misao began to worry when Aoshi had not surfaced from her bathroom. She moved towards the door, her hand placed on the knob as she opened it up to see how he was.

"Shinomori is everythi-" Misao faulted in her words as she stared over at a topless Aoshi, his back to her. There was a large scar across his back and Misao gasped in horror when he turned around in surprise to see her standing before him, he having forgotten to lock the door and she staring openly at his abused body. He had a large purple-black bruise covering most of his right side, old puckered scars covering the front of his body and other bruises lining his arms and neck area.

"GET OUT!" Aoshi had blurted out loudly and watched Misao slam the door closed, in fright at his words and in respect for his privacy. Aoshi on the other hand had already crumpled to the tiled floor, his torn black uniform coat and his white shirt sitting beside him as he hugged his knees to his chest. Misao had seen him. She would know now that he wasn't as tough as he seemed, that he too had his own problems…and was still trying to deal with them even as an 18 year old. Would she confront him on this matter of why he was covered in bruises and scars? Would she demand answers? Aoshi's fear began to grow. What if she told someone about this?

* * * *

Misao sat outside the bathroom, her back leaning against the wall near the door she had slammed shut. It had been Aoshi's request…and in Misao's horror as she gazed upon Aoshi's battered body she had slammed the door with all her might. Misao tilted her head to the closed door when she heard running water and sighed as she got up to head for her bedroom.

* * * * 

Many more minutes ticked on by, the school day having been forgotten. Misao observed from the kitchen as the bathroom door creaked open, Aoshi…with his head bowed walked out in nothing but his uniform pants and a pair of sneakers. Ocean blue eyes followed his form as he headed for his bag with silent strides his body bending slightly to pick up his bag and sling it over his left shoulder.

"Don't think I'll let you leave like that Shinomori." Aoshi had been surprised at Misao's words. He knew she was watching him, but he'd never think she would voice something like that so confidently to him. He watched silently as Misao moved around the counter and brought over a hot cup of cocoa and what seemed to be a folded up blanket.

"At least not until you have a warm drink and sit by the heater for a bit. Your body wouldn't have liked the chill at all during the night." Aoshi blinked down at the shorter girl, shocked into silence that she was not staring at his bruises but rather into his eyes. Sure Aoshi wasn't even going to voice anything, but he knew if he actually did try to form any words in his mouth they would have been stuck in his throat. Aoshi tentatively took the green blanket from Misao and wrapped it around his upper body and turned to sit in front of the heater, its warm air blowing across his face and drying his long bangs.

Misao looked down at the cup of cocoa in her hands and then padded softly to stand behind Aoshi's sitting form, her left hand placing the mug over his shoulder and close to his face so he could smell its aroma.

"Here…" She spoke softly, watching one of his hands reach out from the blanket and take it wordlessly from her own. Misao stepped away then, heading back into her kitchen to make herself a cup of cocoa. The silence was thick in the air when Misao headed back into her lounge room. She knew Aoshi was tense, almost counting down the minutes and seconds as he awaited her questions, but they never came. She only sat on her lounge, now dressed in a pair of black slacks and a blue tank top, the straps of her black sports bra showing. Her legs were updrawn and resting close to her chest; her hands cupping the mug she rested on her knees.

"Why have you not asked me anything?" Misao heard a mumble come from Aoshi. He was facing the large window in her lounge room, this being one of only two windows that were situated in her apartment. The other was located in her bedroom and it was a lot smaller too. Misao took a sip of her drink, her tongue licking her lips to bask in the chocolate taste as she replied to Aoshi's question with one of her own.

"Do you want me to ask you questions?"

"No…" Was his flat answer.

"Then why bother voicing that question then?" Aoshi glanced over at Misao from his sitting position to see she was blowing into her mug trying to cool down its contents. 

"I know you would have questions rolling around in that head of yours." Aoshi retorted back, he observing as Misao shrugged her shoulders and then placed down her mug and walked towards her kitchen again.

"Of course I do, but that doesn't mean I'll actually voice them. You want something to eat?" Misao changed the subject as she opened her fridge to see what was inside.

"I have some left over soup I made up yesterday. Its really tasty." Misao spoke, Aoshi blinking at this new side of her…and Aoshi being Aoshi just couldn't help but blurt out his question,

"Why are you being so nice to me?" 

"Well look at you for starters!" Misao replied instantly as she pottered around her kitchen not catching the scowl crossing Aoshi's face. 

"You don't have any other place to go do you? Or else you would have high tailed it out of here right?" Misao turned to glance over at Aoshi, his back to her once more as he faced the heater again. She had been waiting for some cocky remark but her eyebrows creased, her eyes softening when she watched Aoshi hug his legs to his chest and mumble out a soft reply, he thinking she could not hear…but she had.

"Aa that is true, I have no place to go…"

"Eat up while its warm." Misao spoke once more as she brought over two bowls of chicken and vegetable soup she had brewed up last night for her dinner. Misao sat on her lounge, her legs crossed as she ate her soup, while a plate with some buttered bread sat between her spot and a spot at the coffee table for Aoshi. She had done it again, completely changed from the ice queen into something that sent Aoshi into hundreds of thoughts wanting to know which was the real Makimachi Misao. He shook his head and moved towards the coffee table, his legs now under him as he picked up the bowl and took a sip. Out of the corner of Misao's right eye she watched Aoshi cringe lightly, he placing down the bowl and pressing his finger to his bottom lip to feel the tenderness of the cut.

"Oh, I almost forgot…" Misao muttered to herself even though Aoshi heard. He watched with sheer astonishment as Misao moved to sit beside him making him turn to look down at her and then observed as she now held up a damp cotton ball and dabbed it on his cut lip. Instantly Aoshi flinched at the smell and the stinging sensation as well.

"Oh don't be a baby. Its antiseptic and it will help keep any germs and infections away." Misao retorted and continued to tend to Aoshi's wounds. The bowl of warm antiseptic water sat on the carpet besides Misao. Her right hand dabbed the damp cotton balls on Aoshi's cut lip and the cut near his eye while her left hand actually held the base of his neck and head area making sure he couldn't move away. Aoshi had literally frozen in his seated position; his eyes cast straight ahead not daring to look down at Misao as she fussed silently over the two measly cuts on his face. Misao's fingers were warming Aoshi's chilled bare skin as he finally registered that he could feel them against his bare skin, but Misao had no clue as she let go and stood up carrying the bowl back into the kitchen to wash it out.

"Makimachi why is it that you hide behind some facade? Are you afraid to show people this side of yourself?" 

"Why do you hide yourself away from others? Why do you put up a strong and confident facade when clearly you are broken inside?"

"Broken Makimachi? Clearly you have no clue what you are talking about." Aoshi responded, but watched surprised as Misao reefed the blanket from his shoulders, her eyes boring over his half-clothed form. In that instant, faster then Aoshi could even react she lifted up his left hand, pulling away the velcro wrist band of his watch and thrust his own wrist in his face revealing horizontal scars.

"Broken…" Misao muttered and watched Aoshi jerk away from her, he abruptly turning away from her once more as he yelled his own words in a reply to her remark.

"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" Misao's own hands fisted in rage at his stubborn ways. She burned with anger, burned with hatred and for one instance Misao let out her frustration to someone who seemed to connect to her more then anyone else had in her entire life.

"How dare you say that! You act like the entire world revolves around you! Oh look at poor Shinomori Aoshi all defenceless, all alone, all crushed and broken inside. Well guess what you asshole, there are others who feel pain, who have been through pain and who are still going through it now. There is always someone more like you then you'll ever know Shinomori!" Aoshi's eyes had grown wide hearing Misao's words. What made it even worse was the ice had started to crack inside Misao, ocean blue eyes turning glassy with unshed tears. He had moved his gaze away from them, almost cringing that he had been the cause of it and yet all his attention was now focused on a thin pale wrist open for him to gaze upon…a wrist that had scars just like his…

* * * * 

To be continued…

* * * *

Authors Notes: Honestly this wasn't where it was going to go, but I don't mind it. It might be going really fast, but I don't truly want to drag this story out very much. I've got all my information together for the 'Heart' so I'll get through this eye opener on both Aoshi and Misao (although nothing will truly be revealed) as they both will head back to school, do their work and pretend like nothing has happened. (I did say they had one of those weird relationships remember?) The fun begins when Sano witnesses something he isn't supposed to and when Kenshin finally confront Aoshi in the gymnasium at the school. Guess who's eavesdropping?

Well its 1:30am, I'm dead tired and off to bed. Ja ne! (^_^)


	10. Chapter X

****

High School Crushes are for Wimps

Aoshi did nothing but stare down at Misao's pale wrist, his eyes blinking several times even though nothing came forth from his lips. What could he say? Misao was after all kneeling before him showing something that obviously no one knew about. He watched silently as Misao retreated her wrist back towards her lap and covered it with her other hand. She seemed so afraid, so lost now that Aoshi's lips parted without his consent and the first thing he ever thought of slipped through,

"I'm sorry Misao…" Ocean blue eyes blinked widely into his gaze, bright emotions flicking forth but they were soon controlled and would never be revealed aloud. Aoshi observed as Misao got up and sat on her lounge, her legs being hugged to her chest as she turned her head away from him in embarrassment. Again he had called her Misao and not Makimachi. That had more impact on her, which Misao did not like at all. Why had she done what she did? Why did she have to show him of all people one of her scars? Why?

"I…had no idea…that you too…" Aoshi shook his head as he still sat on the carpet in Misao's place. He was lost for words. Of all the people that could ever relate to him in anyway, the Ice Queen at his high school was not the first person Aoshi would think of. Would it be so wrong though? Would it be so wrong to confide in someone like her? She would not tell a soul, for he too knew of one of her own secrets… 

__

Suicide… 

"You…cut yourself wrong…" His ears picked up Misao's muffled voice, she still curled up on her lounge and facing away from him. 

"As did you, but I was quite young…quite alone back then and knew nothing…" Aoshi responded quietly from the floor and heard a muffled 'hai' escape Misao's lips in a rush. Was she really alone as well? Aoshi was mentally slapping himself for thinking on that question. Of course she was alone! Although he had his father, an abusive man, it still meant he had family…whereas Misao did not. Not a soul surrounded her, comforted her. Of course Aoshi's own father would do no such thing as to comfort him if he needed it, but he had friends that he could confide in if he ever wanted to whereas Misao…had none. 

"So what happens now?" Aoshi's own voice fell flat once more. At such a time like this, what was one to say? Aoshi had no words and clearly Misao had none either. She sat on her couch, hugging herself tightly, but still the only thing that could be heard was the heater blowing warm air into the room.

"I think…school is out for today. It would be strange if both of us turned up late." Misao finally mumbled and Aoshi nodded his head silently, even though Misao never saw him agree. An immense thickness hung in the air around them once more.

"Is it okay if…" Aoshi died off when ocean blue eyes locked onto his gaze.

"If what?" She asked just above a whisper.

"If I could stay…just a little longer… I won't bother you…I promise." Misao blinked her eyes at Aoshi. Here they were, a sixteen year old being asked by an eighteen year old, an adult whether he'd be able to stay in the confines of her apartment then go out into the harsh world. Just what was the world coming to?

"Of course…and besides, we've got an assignment to do remember?" Misao quickly added. She had seen a splash of gratefulness rush over green-grey eyes but it fled them just as it was discovered.

"Right… I have my bag her after all, so how about we start making up a speech?"

"I'll get my stuff." Misao spoke and stood up heading for her bedroom door, which was closed. While waiting Aoshi decided to look around, mainly for the fact he really wanted another hot chocolate and decided to make his "hostess" one as well.

"I'm curious, what is up with the mannequin any…eh?" Misao cut herself off seeing as Aoshi was not at the coffee table anymore. Her eyes turned to the right and found him bringing out some milk from her fridge. She also noted the fact that the blanket that had been wrapped around his shoulders hiding his abused body from her was now gone so she could gaze her ocean blue eyes all over him. Misao had to admit, under the stoic facade he was quite attractive…and under those bruises there was a nice athletic body too. Misao squished that thought, but couldn't help a gasp escape her lips when Aoshi turned his back on her. A large scar ran vertically down his spine the beginning of it hidden by strands of jet-black hair falling down his neck while his uniform trousers cut off the end. Misao immediately watched Aoshi stiffen lightly, his left hand pressed at the small of his back knowing why Misao had gasped. 

"Disgusting ne?" She heard the almost inaudible voice question. For once in her life Misao felt her heart lurch in her chest for Aoshi. He stood stock still at her counter, hands clenched on the bench and his eyes staring down at steaming hot chocolate. They didn't stay on hot chocolate for long when there was slight pressure on his shoulders. Aoshi turned his head over his left one and noticed Misao had brought the blanket back over to him and was covering his battered body.

"This place isn't very warm, so I think its best you keep this wrapped around you. I'd offer you a shirt, but I think I'm a little too small for you." A quirk at the side of Aoshi's lips made Misao relax a little more.

"I'll have one sugar in mine thanks." Misao spoke before heading back to the coffee table to lay out her books.

"Err…sure…" Aoshi muttered and did as Misao said. He headed back to the lounge area and sat down on the opposite side of the coffee table.

"Arigatou." She muttered with a pen in her mouth. She was eyeing several diagrams and then moved to a book she'd loaned from the library to get more notes from.

"What I was thinking is making some 3D graphical heart diagrams using the computers at school." Misao absently spoke while flipping the page.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, like I can torture some poor computer geek into doing it all for me on some kick ass high tech software you know? I just had this great idea that one of the diagrams can have the sound effects of a heart beat and then squirts of blood can come from the arteries." Ocean blue eyes lifted when Misao had heard a small chuckle from Aoshi. 

"What's so funny?"

"Actually I kind of had those exact thoughts…only a little different."

"Oh?" Misao mimicked Aoshi.

"Yeah, um, that's what Betty comes in for and the lab coats. She can be our patient, but of course will die so we can take her heart and examine it though it won't be human, more like a sheep's heart instead. What I was thinking was grabbing some tools and some screws and connecting her together but I have to cut a hole in her chest, so we can pretend the hearts sits in there until we take it out."

"Then when your operating you can squeeze it and fake blood will come squirting out over our lab coats and onto the floor and shit." Aoshi quirked an eyebrow at Misao's choice of words. He could have sworn there was excitement in that usually dull sounding voice of hers.

"Exactly, so what do you think?"

"I'll get some sound effects placed together, time it right with our actions so it can be done perfectly. I'll grab some sort of effect that sounds like the ribs are being cut away. Also we can have the whole heart beat slowing down until its just flat line…and…" Misao stopped pursing her lips when she noticed Aoshi was just silently staring at her.

"What?" She narrowed her eyes at him, arms folding over her zip up black hooded jumper as she had grabbed it from her bedroom floor earlier.

"Nothing…" Aoshi remarked and went back to highlighting some notes. Misao eyed him silently for a moment before going back to her reading.

"You know, we actually might make some students puke." Aoshi finally noted.

"Exactly Shinomori, it's going to be the best part in this crummy assignment." She was pleased to hear another little chuckle from Aoshi but did not admit it aloud. In fact, Misao found it odd she liked his company.

* A couple of hours pass by *

"I really should be going…" Misao eyed Aoshi as he started backing away his books, the blanket slipping from his shoulders to reveal the bluish-purple bruises at his neck and arms and the large one around his stomach and hip area. Misao bit her lip…and felt like dying when her words spilled forth from her mouth.

"Does it hurt?"

"What?" Startled green-grey eyes looked over at Misao, her hands clasped over her lips wanting to shove the words back down her throat.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" Misao died off when she watched Aoshi head for her bathroom to grab his torn uniform clothing. He emerged with them on, but the bruise on his left arm could be seen no matter how much he tried to hide it.

"Thank you for your kindness Makimachi, but its time for me to go now. I'll see you around at school." Aoshi made a beeline for the front door and turned the knob opening it up.

"Yes…" Came a small whisper from his lips.

"Eh?"

"They hurt more then anyone will ever now. What hurts the most though…is all the inner wounds…all the scarring from…everything I guess." Misao stared wide-eyed at her closed door, teeth biting into her lower lip. He just confessed something extremely personal to her, but why? Aoshi stood outside the door thinking the exact same thing.

"Baka…" He cursed himself before racing for the elevator.

* Aoshi's House * 

He cautiously placed his head around the corner of the fence and breathed a sigh of utmost relief. His father was not home. Aoshi headed for the front door and walked inside. Typical it was never locked but then who'd want to steal anything from this place? It was completely trashed…again. Aoshi headed upstairs and into his room closing the door silently behind.

It only took Aoshi five minutes to start grabbing clothes and thrust them into a medium sized duffle bag. He needed to get away if only for a few days. He'd rather sleep on the streets then here and if that were what it took for him to not have to worry about being beaten every single night then he'd do exactly that. He opened the drawer at his desk and picked up the photo brushing his fingers over it for a fleeting moment before he heard a bucket of bolts (his father's car) pull up in the driveway. Cautiously pulling back the black curtains Aoshi saw him sway towards the front door. He was drunk…again. Aoshi grabbed his duffle bag and the photo frame and opened the window. Stepping onto the ledge, throwing his duffle bag onto the roof, his green-grey eyes widened when his father started yelling for him, calling him the usual names like "unworthy", "pathetic" and "poor excuse for a man" as he headed upstairs. Aoshi jumped out the window, clinging to the side of the roof, grunting lightly at stretching his bruised body but pulled himself up just in time to hear his door opening and his father yelling for him. All he would have found was an empty room with the curtains and window open. 

Aoshi drew his knees to his chest as he sat on the roof of his house pondering just where he would go at sunset. He couldn't head back to Misao's; she'll just make him feel even more insecure with himself as he had opened up to her just that little bit more. There was just something about her that made him do so…and he hated that.

* Hours tick by – Around 9:30 at night *

Aoshi had been wondering the residential streets; drenched from the rain that had begun falling over an hour ago. Families who had been going for afternoon walks looked at him strangely as he walked past. 

Aoshi clutched his duffle bag at his side, hiding the bruise on his exposed left arm. Then it finally clicked as he stopped walking to find the piece of paper he had stuffed in his bag not too long ago. He remembered that Sano had given him his address freely letting him drop by anytime he wanted, but Aoshi stopped at the thought. It was quite late, what if his family was asleep, hell Aoshi didn't even know how many people were in Sano's family!

After much debating on Aoshi's behalf as he absently walked the streets he was surprised that he actually found himself at the crossroad of Sano's street and one heading back into the city. Aoshi took a deep breath and headed down the lit up sidewalk looking for Number 3845.

After walking for another twenty minutes Aoshi found it and clicked the lock on the gate open and headed up the stony path to the steps and then onto the porch. It was a two-storey place, but seemed more western style then his. And the fact it was in good knick, with a blooming garden and fountain out the front and no cracks in the windows or walls for that matter too. Everything was spotless, no weeds, no chunk in the front yard and before Aoshi could stop himself he'd already rung the doorbell. Water dripped onto the wooden porch from his soaked clothing and he blinked several times as a light flicked on and a young girl cracked the door open just a little to glance a brown eye up at Aoshi.

"Konbanwa, I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if Sano was here?" Aoshi spoke as gently as he could to the young girl, she looking like she was about 10 or 11 years old.

"Sano-nii, some boy is here to see youuuuuuuu!" The girl yelled loudly and then Aoshi heard the distinctive but muffled voice of Sano as he drew closer towards himself and the girl still at the door.

"Sayo-chan, there is no need to yell or you'll wake up kachan and tousan and they won't be happy about that."

"Gomen ne, but he doesn't look good at all!" Aoshi cringed at her words and watched the door open more, cinnamon eyes looking a little bit up into his own green-grey ones since he was taller then Sano.

"Shi-Shinomori, what are you doing here?" 

"I'm sorry to bother you at such a time, but I was wondering if I could perhaps stay the night here? I know it's sudden but…" Sano eyed Aoshi when he died off and continued to look him up and down. He was drenched, clinging to a duffle bag and then he took in the ripped school uniform and the split lip.

"What happened? You get into a fight or something?" Sano watched Aoshi cast his eyes to the wooden porch and smacked his head.

"Ah gomen, quick get inside and get warm. It's fucking cold out there!"

"Sano-nii you swore!" Sayo remarked and Sano placed a finger to his lips and winked at his little sister. She nodded her head at him knowing she'd get a present from him for not telling their parents he used bad language in front of her and skipped off to the lounge room. 

When Aoshi didn't move from his frozen position on the porch, Sano reached out his hand and grabbed Aoshi's left arm wanting to yank him into the house. This startled Aoshi from his reverie and he let out a small grunt, the duffle bag dropping from his left arm in surprise at the tight pressure.

"What the hell? How'd you get this bruise?!?" Sano yelled in surprise turning Aoshi's restraining arm up to his eyes.

"Don't…" Aoshi began but never did finish. There was a sigh from Sano before he let go, bent down grabbing the wet duffle bag and headed inside.

"Are you coming or not? I won't be responsible for you freezing to death on my front porch." Aoshi tentatively stepped into the house and closed the door behind him.

"Take off your shoes and follow me alright?" Sano spoke as he headed upstairs to his room. Aoshi did so in silence, eyes still cast to the carpet in the hallway, his long bangs covering a third of his face, droplets running down his face.

"Welcome to paradise." Sano spoke, his voice lower then usual because of his parent's bedroom down the hall. Aoshi looked up and couldn't help but smirk. It was a freaking mess, but then this was Sano after all.

"Not exactly clean, but it's a sanctuary from Sayo-chan when she gets real annoying."

"Aa…" Aoshi muttered as he stared at the posters all over the wall, all of women of course. A computer sat on a desk with all the latest components and near the queen size bed stuck in a corner with crumbled sheets and blankets was a wide screen television, VCR, DVD player and every console ever invented and games also littered the carpeted floor. 

"Here, you can take a shower in here so you won't have to be worried at facing my parents if they wake up." Aoshi caught the towel that Sano threw at him and headed into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

* Twenty minutes passes *

Aoshi opened the door, flicked off the light, but his green-grey eyes were immediately on the cross-legged figure of Sano sitting on his bed, arms crossed over his chest looking defiant.

"Now start confessing." His voice was stern…and Aoshi headed over, the towel wrapped over his shoulders catching excess droplets from his drenched black hair. He was in a pair of black slacks and a plain black long sleeved shirt.

"Sano I really don't want to…"

"Come on, what harm can it do man? We're friends aren't we?" Sano spoke again, placing his bare feet on his carpeted floor eyeing Aoshi silently. 

"Well yeah I guess, but…it's not…a good idea if you know about this."

"If you don't stop talking in riddles I'm going to have to punch you." A cocky grin was on his face, but it slipped when Aoshi slightly flinched at his choice of words.

"Shinomori?"

"Are you sure?" Aoshi spoke, head turned from Sano to look out the window. It was raining heavier now.

"Yeah sure, I'm ready for anything." Aoshi sighed and then turned his eyes to cinnamon once more. The towel was dumped to the ground and Aoshi placed his hands on the bottom of his shirt.

"Shinomori what are yo-?" Sano never got any further as Aoshi lifted the black shirt up and over his head, revealing in the bright lighting of Sano's room his abused body.

"Fuck! I mean…shit I don't know what I mean! Hell I don't know what to say!" Sano was gapping at Aoshi watching as he placed the shirt back on in a flash.

"Don't…mention this to anyone…"

"HELL NO!" Sano barked loudly. "But…I mean…how, when…why?" His voice was back to a soft whisper now. He really hoped he hadn't woken his parents up with that loud remark.

"It's a long twisted story I really don't wish to discuss tonight…maybe…"

"When you're ready Aoshi…when you're ready." Green-grey eyes darted to Sano but he was currently lying on the floor pulling something from under it. It was the first time Sano had called him Aoshi…and that surprised him for the fact that no one ever called him that, not even his father. Aoshi brushed those thoughts aside.

"Ah here we go, it's not much, but it's pretty comfortable." Sano spoke as he pulled out a futon and then unfolded it for Aoshi to sleep on. He patted it down and then jumped back onto his bed.

"There you go." Aoshi nodded his head silently and descended to the floor.

"Well I gotta make sure Sayo-chan's in bed, so I'll be back in a second. Oh, do you need a drink or anything?"

"Water if it's no trouble." Aoshi automatically responded.

* Ten minutes later * 

"Ah, she's out like a light. Here you go." Sano spoke as he headed for the bed and where Aoshi was just beside it on the floor already inside the futon with the covers up to his chin. An arm reached out and grabbed the glass from Sano, a small 'thanks' escaping Aoshi's lips as he took a sip and then placed it on the floor besides him. 

"So…" Aoshi started as he heard the creaking of the springs from Sano's bed as he jumped onto it and place on a lamp near a chest of draws before turning off the main switch light as there happened to be a second one near his bed.

"It's alright Aoshi, you can trust me, it was just…surprising that all. I mean I've been in fights and all, seen my older brother in some too, but I've never really seen someone that…um…abused before you know." 

"Aa…" There was silence until Aoshi watched Sano lean over the side of his bed, noticing that his cinnamon eyes held laughter in them as he stared down into his half lidded green-grey ones.

"Actually what was more surprising was when you took off your shirt. I thought you were trying to get fresh with me." Sano was more then relieved when he heard a small but tired chuckle escape Aoshi's lips. One of his hands had come out of the futon again to whack him, but Aoshi missed because of his slowness, his body shutting down as it craved rest. All Sano received in answer was a mumbled,

"Ba~ka…" 

Sano didn't know how long he watched Aoshi, observing as the 18 year old slept like the dead…and with his pale complexion at the moment he freaking looked dead too! Sano got up headed for his cupboard and pulled out an extra blanket and unfolded it to place it over the sleeping Aoshi so he'd have more warmth through the cold night.

He lay awake in his bed, listening to the pounding rain…and then a muffled voice cut through the quietness in the room.

"Stay away from me…" Sano moved once more, brown eyes gazing over the edge to look at Aoshi in the darkness. His voice was filled with utter pain, but Sano was at a loss of what to do. From the street light outside Sano could just make out Aoshi's form as he curled himself into the blankets with his head, bar the top of his jet-black hair was hidden from view. 

"You _are_ my friend Aoshi and no matter what you try and hide, it will not help you for I'll find out everything in the end. I won't let you dive into the darkness like my brother did. I will protect you from this pain…that I promise you." Sano confessed to the sound asleep Aoshi. He yawned himself and then flicked off the lamp before sprawling on his bed and fell into a deep sleep himself.

"Arigatou…" Came a whisper in the night.

Outside the rain kept coming.

* * * *

To be continued…

* * * * 

Author Notes: Well holey crap, I did it! Yaataa! *Throws herself into a pit of bishonen and hugs each and every one of them senseless* Thank Christ that's over for now. Um, gomen that not a lot of it is Aoshi and Misao, but I need to express the friendship that's going to grow between Sano and Aoshi. Oh and no there is nothing shounen-ai about this or anything of the sort. Sano is just quite the protective guy when it comes to his friends and finding out that Aoshi has been abused (though he still doesn't know who by) just furiously pisses him off. So in the end he will be extremely protective, which will bug Aoshi, but alas its got to be this way.

Well hope you enjoyed, I'm off to bed now. Ja!


	11. Chapter XI

**High School Crushes are for Wimps**

Morning came quicker then Aoshi would have liked as the curtain was pulled open and the glaring sunshine was beaming down onto his face.

"Sano-nii, ohayoo!" Came the cheery voice of Sayo-chan who'd bounded into the room to wake the sleeping high school students. Aoshi grunted and buried further into the cozy blanket of the futon while Sano told Sayo to shut up as he trudged towards his bathroom to relieve himself. It wasn't long before he was back in the room, Aoshi _still_ in the futon as Sayo-chan sat close to his head and was in fact poking the comforter.

"Sano-nii, is he dead?" Her large brown eyes looked over at Sano who cracked up laughing before he watched Aoshi draw the blanket down, blurry eyes peeking through messy bangs.

"Sayo-chan, is mum and dad gone to work already?"

"Yep and they said you have to make me breakfast and take me to the bus stop or you'll be in big trouble."

"Well you head downstairs first, I'll be there shortly." Sano watched Sayo do as he said as she waved goodbye to her big brothers "sleeping guest" who did a small quiet wave back before Aoshi placed his head down on the pillow once more, eyes closed shut.

"Hmm, I think today is a 'skip school day'." Sano muttered as he headed for Aoshi and jerked the 18 year old awake once more.

"What is it?"

"We'll be having a day off today, 'kay?" Who was Aoshi to complain as he did nothing but pull the comforter over his head turning the small confined area into darkness.

"SANO-NII, HURRY UP!" Sayo yelled upstairs and Sano got into action as he headed off, closing his bedroom door to let Aoshi sleep. For now Sano would "pretend" he was going to go to school also, but once he waved Sayo-chan from the bus he wasn't going anywhere.

XxXxXxX

Aoshi stretched within the folds of the futon as his arms came clear out of the comforter as he peeled the warm material from his skin. Sitting up he stared around the deserted bedroom to look for its owner, but Sano was nowhere in sight. With stomach rumbling for something to eat, having had nothing for over 24 hours Aoshi headed downstairs only to hear commotion from the lounge room and found Sano in a pair of red shorts and a white singlet yelling at the television screen as he was loosing a brawl against the computer as he played a console game. Aoshi had heard of the game and only glimpsed at it through an arcade window and quietly sat down on the couch, he calculating what Sano's move should be but instead watched him do something completely different, hence rendering him 'dead'.

"You suck at this game."

"Gah!" Sano jerked, head twisting around to see Aoshi calmly sitting Indian style on the couch dressed all in black. "Shit man, how long have you been there?"

"Not long…" Aoshi replied back and then listened to his stomach growl once more.

"Seems to me someone is hungry…" Sano laughed lightly before pausing the game as he stood up and waved Aoshi to the kitchen.

"So what do you want to eat? I was actually going to wake you up to see if you wanted any lunch since I haven't had any myself. After that sleep you look better though." Sano voiced while opening cupboards and the fridge.

"Thanks…" Aoshi had never really been in this kind of position where he asked for help from anyone before. He received a clap on his uninjured shoulder from Sano who closed the fridge.

"I have a better idea. There is this great take away shop just at the corner of the street, so I'll buy us lunch from there. It saves us having to cook anything."

"I'll just grab some cash for you." Aoshi remarked, liking the idea of not having to cook, but was stopped by Sano shaking his head.

"Nah it's my treat, besides its not like I'm short of cash or anything." He spoke while scratching the back of his head, both his parents had nice paying jobs to support themselves and there _two_ children now.

"Okay…" Aoshi was non too pleased about receiving such generosity like this but realized Sano was just being "protective" as he liked to look out for his friends every now and then.

"So I'll grab some noodles, tempura, rice balls, sushi and some drinks yeah?" Sano was already at the door, wallet and keys in hand as he slipped on a pair of sneakers.

"Aa…" Aoshi muttered as he stood awkwardly at the entranceway.

"Start playing that game so I can beat the crap outta ya when I get back." There was a hint of a smirk on Aoshi's lips as he nodded affirmatively and watched the door close leaving him in a very large and eerily quiet mansion.

XxXxXxX

The front door clicked open and Aoshi rose from his seated position on the plush carpet, having killed most of his occupants fairly quickly and headed into the entranceway to chew out Sano at how much he sucked but froze, eyes wider then usual as he stared at an elderly couple both wearing business suits.

"What the hell are you doing in my house?" The male, which now Aoshi figured was Sano's father voiced loudly, his hand instantly going towards his wife as he clasped her hand, making sure if Aoshi attacked he'd be able to get her out of harms way.

"I'm…"

"Hey Aoshi-kun I'm back I…oh crap…" Sano stood at the doorway noticing his folks home a _lot_ earlier then expected since it was only 1pm and then realised perhaps they'd come home for lunch.

"Sanosuke you better explain yourself." Mr Sagara growled lightly out while Mrs Sagara decided to add on,

"And why aren't you in school?"

"Hey Aoshi, could you go upstairs for a second?" Not needing to be asked a second time Aoshi left the Sagara's to their argument/discussion.

As he sat on Sano's bed, he looked down at his duffle bag and began placing whatever was lying around that belonged to him back inside it. He didn't want to be a bother to anyone and would leave the Sagara place immediately. He quickly folded the futon, placed it back under the bed and stood up just as the door was pushed open. There in doorway stood Mrs Sagara…a very determined Mrs Sagara at that.

"Aoshi-kun, please have a seat." Aoshi was never truly a rude person or visitor and did as she asked as she headed on over, bringing Sano's desk chair with her. Aoshi observed as she placed down a small box beside him while she sat in front of him where his futon used to be with one leg crossed over the other and her hands clasped together in her lap.

"I'm a little mad at my son not telling us sooner we had a guest." She began while Aoshi stared at the floor. "However, Sano has asked if you could stay for awhile and without proper reasoning I cannot allow that until you tell me yourself." Aoshi lifted his ice green-grey orbs from the floor and finally figured out what Mrs Sagara's occupation was.

"You are a shrink." Aoshi voiced quietly, not liking the idea that someone was going to analyse him one bit.

"In a sense yes, but Sano would not tell me what the go is with you staying here so you have but two options. One we can sit here for the remainder of the day with me firing questions at you and will make an analysis on what is going on or two you can confide in me and let me patch you up." With eyes slightly wide Aoshi had never felt so uncomfortable then what he was right now. He thought he could hide everything so well, but obviously with someone like this who seemed to have more then 10 years experience dealing with problematic people, Mrs Sagara was bound to read him like an open book.

"I…" Aoshi began, his eyes darting away from the concerned brown ones that patiently waited for him to finish. "I…can't…" He murmured, not wanting anyone to get into any trouble, not when he was so close at being about to adopt his little sisters.

"I see…" Mrs Sagara voiced as she clasped one of Aoshi's hands in both of hers. She quietly sat there watching the mature looking young man before her (even though he looked more like a scared child underneath) and while she held his hand she noticed a certain purple-blackness of a fading bruise close to his wrist.

"So that is it then." She mumbled mostly to herself, a definite frown on her face as she stood up and opened what Aoshi now discovered was a first aid kit.

"The salve will help you." She voiced before heading for the door.

"Mrs Sagara?" Aoshi watched the tall slender woman stop at the doorway, her flowing brown-black hair cascaded down her back in wavy curls as she looked back over her shoulder at him. "Would you…come back inside and close the door?" She did as was asked of her and sat back down in the chair listening to Aoshi's story as for once he wanted someone to know everything that he'd experienced.

XxXxXxX

Aoshi had no idea how long he sat there talking monotonously to Sano's mother until he discovered there was a long silence in the room after he'd finished.

"May I ask, why did you decide to share all of this with me?" Sano's mum spoke quietly, not an ounce of emotion in her voice or on her face.

"You…remind me of my mother…of what I can remember in any case. Will you…tell Sano about all of this?"

"Of course not, I go by a strict confidentiality clause."

"Do I have to pay for this session?" Mrs Sagara couldn't help but laugh aloud, her hand moving to her lips as she muffled it there.

"You must be hanging around my son too much. Only he would say such a thing." A smirk crossed Aoshi's lips as he scratched the back of his neck, never knowing that a weight such as the one he'd been carrying since he was young could be lifted so easily like that. He watched as Mrs Sagara leaned back in her chair, her lips quirked slightly, but there was still determination within her gaze.

"It's on the house, but only if you lift your shirt." Aoshi was surprised at her sternness. "I also happened to be a very concerned woman and have taken care of many bumps and bruises, now lift your arms young man." Aoshi slowly complied with the "order" from Sano's mum, now noticing where he got his 'authority/bossy' type of attitude from and let her pull the shirt free.

"Oh Aoshi-kun…" She muttered before placing the salve in his hands and made him place the cool ointment over his bruised skin. "I would suggest you go see a doctor to make sure your hip and ribs haven't been cracked _but_…" Mrs Sagara voiced, her hand raised to stop Aoshi from interrupting her. "…I'll let it go for now. However, I would like you to rest for the remainder of the week so there is no schooling Friday or Saturday for you as those bones need proper rest. I'll also notify the school of your whereabouts and as a doctor have decided to keep you under observation, understood?"

"Aa…" Aoshi remarked once more and watched Mrs Sagara head for the door.

"We'll be back at 6pm so you make sure Sano behaves and doesn't strain you with those silly computer games too much. If you become tired, you rest." Nodding his head again Aoshi sighed lightly as he placed his shirt back on and just in time as Sano walked into the room.

"Man did they totally chew me out or what? She didn't like fire a million questions at you did she? That gets real annoying." Sano griped out as he pushed the chair back over to his desk.

"No, it's quite alright. She was…nice."

"Nice…? It's over protective if you ask me." Sano spoke as the two of them headed back downstairs and Aoshi observed him as he shrugged his shoulders. "It all started when Souzou died, so I can understand why she is the way she is." Sano spoke as he headed into the kitchen, as the both of them hadn't eaten lunch and it was now past 3pm.

"Who is that?"

"Ah, my older brother." Sano all too casually voiced while munching on a rice ball. "He died ages ago, but mum never got over it. She felt so powerless that she couldn't help her son or even see the problems he had, so she's spent every waking hour trying to help other kids get through the darkness they experience. I guess she's still trying to repay her debt for being blind to her eldest son."

"She is very good at what she does."

"Oh?" Sano cocked an eyebrow at that as they headed into the living room and placed the food containers on the floor and began eating them while Sano loaded up a new game.

"Aa…"

"I see… Fine you be that way, but I'll just kick your ass in this then!" Aoshi smirked as Sano grumbled to himself as he bit into some tempura.

"You are like her…you know that?"

"Huh?"

"Your mother, in her protective ways, you too are very much like that. You are trying to not feel so guilty at being helpless at not being able to save your brother, correct?"

"It sucks more then anything, being right there when he died and not being able to do a fucking thing as he sacrificed himself to let me and a friend of mine live."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not unless you talk to me about your problem first." Sano retorted back instantly and watched Aoshi shake his head negatively. "Well then let's just play this and enjoy the quiet because when Sayo-chan comes home she won't back down from asking you a million questions herself."

"Aa…" And with that the two students played, Sano yelled and cursed for he was loosing and Aoshi finally had time to relax for once, not a thought about his father on his mind.

Xx Evening – Sagara Residence xX

"Ao-nii sit here!" Sayo-chan voiced as she pat the chair next to her. Sano had gone to collect his 'pain in the butt' sister as he called her from the bus stop and as soon as she got home she had not once left Aoshi's side, asking him how old he was, where he was from, what he was doing and so on and so forth. Aoshi quietly replied, skipping personal questions that she innocently fired at him, but ironically Sayo had stopped before Sano yelled at her for being so annoying. Instead she munched on a snack and watched the boys continuously play computer games.

"Sayo-chan, behave yourself."

"Yes Mama…" She voiced happily and smiled brightly up at the dark haired male as Aoshi sat beside her not being able to upset her like he had done once already today. She'd been on his 'team' as Aoshi's ninja character on screen beat up Sano's street punk, but the one random time Sano had won against Aoshi, she had cried…and that had even surprised Sano as well.

Aoshi quietly ate his dinner listening to the chit chat the Sagara's had and suppressed a chuckle when Mr Sagara confirmed that Sano _would_ be going to school tomorrow. The spiky haired 16 year old grumbled loudly but would not start an argument with his father. He could get quite scary when he got annoyed.

"Yeah but he doesn't know his way around the house and…"

"I'll be here to show him." All eyes darted to Mrs Sagara at her interruption to Sano trying to get out of school again.

"You're taking a day off?" The two male Sagara's voiced incredulously and watched their mother and wife huff lightly.

"I've taken days off before so there is no need to act so surprised. And besides Sayo-chan has a carnival at her primary school so I've decided to take Aoshi-kun along if he feels up to it. A little sunshine didn't hurt anybody." Aoshi eyes had grown wide at this news as he stared at Mrs Sagara before his attention was drawn to Sayo who was currently tugging at his sleeve.

"You'll come won't you Ao-nii?"

"Aa…"

"Yattaa!" She happily rejoiced and glomped a surprised Aoshi who couldn't help but grimace at the sudden pressure around his neck.

"Sayo-chan you sit down this instant or you won't be going to the carnival." The mother of the household voiced sternly and mainly for the fact she had seen that grimace just like her husband and son had.

"Ne Ao-nii, how come you have a bruise on your neck?" The dinner table fell quiet, Aoshi knowing all pairs of eyes were on him as he placed down his chopsticks to lift his eyes to the innocent enquiring ones beside him.

"I was getting up during the night and smacked into your Sano-nii's drawer. It's hard walking around in the dark. Don't you agree Sayo-chan?"

"Ah, I did that too, though I smacked right into the wall!" Sayo 'proudly' voiced as she slurped up the rest of her noodles. "More please!" She spoke loudly, bowl out which Aoshi ended up taking for Mrs Sagara and placed more kake-soba into her bowl. The conversation soon went back to Sayo talking about what was going to happen at the carnival tomorrow, but every now and then Sano and his mother eyed Aoshi.

XxXxXxX

"I do appreciate the kindness and hospitality of your family Sano-kun." Aoshi remarked as he watched Sano set his alarm clock before throwing his comforter over his striped pants and black singlet clad self.

"Eh, don't mention it you're my friend. Besides Sayo-chan loves you, my mum thinks you're handsome and my dad…well he isn't yelling at you so you must be okay in his books too."

"Err…right…" Aoshi really didn't know what to say about that and instead sat down on the futon once more.

"You know you could get your own room, we have a spare after all."

"I'd feel strange, sleeping in the room that belongs to your brother."

"You mean _belonged_ and there are other rooms in this place, but I see how it is though, you not being able to steer away from my spunkiness and all."

"Sano, you're an idiot…and a blind one at that."

"Blind? What do you mean?" Sano muttered as he rolled over to face Aoshi who was currently applying ointment to his bruises again.

"Takani-san likes you."

"Megitsune likes…are you kidding me? She thinks I'm the dumbest person on earth!"

"But she still likes you."

"Hmm, I could use this to my advantage."

"And I'll just tell her you like her too." Aoshi smirked as he watched a flush rush across Sano's cheeks.

"Well that's not fair!" He griped out before a knock on the door told him to pipe down as the rest of the household wanted to sleep.

"Of course not, but you two suit one another in a weird sort of way."

"Che, almost as weirdly as you and the ice queen suit each other." And with that the bedroom fell silent, Sano clicking off the lamp, liking the fact he got the final word in while Aoshi stared up at the ceiling.

"Me and…Misao…" He murmured to himself before rolling over and closing his eyes, not wanting to think about it anymore. Tomorrow was a new day and there was plenty of time to ponder over it then.

# to be continued… #

Authors Notes: Well…suck me side ways! I finished a chapter! Yattaa! Phooey it wasn't PM lie it was supposed to be but oh well. I wanted Aoshi to have some alone time with the Sagara's so not much Aoshi and Misao stuff again, but it'll happen soon…I kind of promise. Anyway, it's long awaited for sure but at least it's out now.


End file.
